This Southern American supernatural horror film appears to have been a labour of love for its writer, director, co-producer and star Steve Pullen. As with most films, I went into this blind, which is often the best way.

For the negatives, I would say that the decision (possibly for budgetary reasons) to surround himself with family members might have contributed to some of the climactic scenes going on a trifle too long and some of the melodrama being slightly overcooked. Someone with an outsider's point of view might have exercised a bit more discipline regarding editing and pruning - less is often more, they say - but having said that, there's no doubt about it: 'The Ballerina' packs an almighty emotional punch.

Much of the appeal rests on the central performance. For a story that involves a little girl being systematically tormented by spirits, the performance cannot afford to fall into the traps juvenile performers sometimes succumb to. In Isabella Pullen (Steve's daughter),the casting is perfect - she's an incredible performer (perhaps the decision to cast family members was an artistic one after all). When her character Sophia says in a tiny voice, "I'm scared to go to sleep," your heart breaks - knowing that she probably has good reason to be.

Even the film's title has emotional weight to it - Sophia is dressed and made up as a ballerina throughout, extolling her status as a child whose talent is cruelly ripped away from her by events. Sophia is one of the most heart-breaking characters I've seen in film for a long, long time.

The rest of the story is green and eerie, rather than overtly horrific. Anyone who demands jump scares and CGI needn't hang around. The atmosphere of unexplained strangeness is the frightener, as well as the effect it has on other characters - Glen (Steve Pullen),Doe (Deena Dill) and Marjorie (Valli Downey) amongst others.

The story's resolution threatens to get garbled by over-egging, but ultimately, this story is an incredibly weird and genuinely tear-jerking. I don't mind telling you I was in floods by the end. My score is 9 out of 10.

Great storyline really enjoyed it not the best actors and not big a baget but its still interesting. Lets just say watch it give it a chance if you watching not just to be scared but also enjoy some Drama - the end is shoking

With advancements in technology, it has become easier for the "every man" to make movies. In some ways, it has become like one of those talent reality shows with the audience as the judges: everyone thinks they have talent, not everyone does, but some have potential and once in a while you find a real star.

Mr. Pullen shows some real potential here. This isn't the best of it's type I've seen, but it is FAR from the worst. And it is worth a watch, particularly if you are interested in filmmaking. It was as fun seeing what he got wrong as it was seeing what he got right. It would make a great film for a film class to study.

And visually, it was a great. Heck, James Cameron has made a fortune making really stupid yet gorgeous movies. Beautiful is worth a lot.

This film has its plusses and its minuses.

ACTING: Like most indie films it is a grab-bag. Steve Pullen himself is probably better off staying behind the camera, but he doesn't make you wince (although he does chew the scenery a bit). Little Isabella as Sophia is a stand-out, though. She has a future in acting.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Actually pretty good. Whomever was handling the camera is decent. Some of the scenery is gorgeous and shots were well-framed.

WRITING: Mixed bag. The dialogue isn't terrible (not great either) and the story concept is interesting, but the story itself was a little too complicated and a little too contrived. For a long time it appeared there were two disparate stories happening here, and while I see what he was going for as far as the parallels and inferences, it really got muddled up. The opening made certain promises to the viewer, and I found a lot of that middle ground to be frustrating as I was waiting for it to play out the way I suspected it might (it didn't, by the way). It was like being taken out of the story and put into another one. I found myself not caring about any of the tension in "that" part of the story because it felt like an interruption to the original narrative. iI also think a few too many liberties were taken with the story (as we saw it) to justify that ending, but it was an admirable attempt. However, if you're going to go in that direction you need a little more foreshadowing. Nobody should be left at the big reveal saying "huh... wha?" And the denouement was just a bit too much. I want to avoid making this a spoiler review so I'll skip making the obvious comment about that. When you see the film, though, you'll see what I mean. It was a twist too far. And it stretched on WAAAY too long, explaining and explaining and explaining until we realize the filmmaker was not confident in how he had presented his story. If you feel the need to spell out everything you just showed your audience, you already know you didn't get it right.

EDITING: Well done. Good editing is invisible; bad editing will destroy a movie.

MAKEUP: Normally I wouldn't even talk about make-up in a review, but this was so horrific it had to be mentioned. It was like make-up in a children's theatrical production : it looked like it was slopped onto faces by a stage-mom volunteer who had a few too many chardonnays before showing up at the theater. Just really, really bad, to the point of distraction.

Another rare mention is the TITLE SEQUENCE: Whoever did this has some artistic vision and talent with a computer. It looked very professionally done and fit the tone of the film.

Despite my criticisms, I think Mr. Pullen should continue to make films. I can see some really good movies in his future as he hones is craft. He is one of the reasons that I am loving the rise in indie filmmaking as the means to make movies becomes more accessible. This may not be a total winner, but the raw material is there, and some of it was really, really good (and talent is rare).

PS: If you're going to have family members make fake reviews, tell them to avoid superlatives and hyperbole. The stink of fake was all over some of these reviews and it was an embarrassment to the film. Reviews aren't just something to make people want to watch your film, they are your honest feedback. Requesting fake reviews is narcissistic and not helpful. I almost skipped this film because those reviews were so ridiculous. I'm glad I didn't.