'Lovely Molly' DVD Review

A creepy, mind-bending mystery from an unsung voice in horror.

Shortly after their wedding, newlyweds Molly and Tim head off to star their new life in the old country home where Molly spent her childhood before her parents died. It doesn't take long for her to realize, however, that something is amiss. Shadows lurk, doors open and close by themselves, voices torment her, and with Tim gone for days at a time for his truck driving job, she's forced to deal with matters on her own. Long-forgotten portions of her childhood begin to creep back into her consciousness, furthering her descent into the grip of a dark force. Is there something evil in the house taking over her, or is she merely losing her grip on sanity?

The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sanchez may never escape the shadow of his seminal smash hit film, but after several quiet years immediately following its 1999 release, he's put together a string of excellent, under-the-radar fright flicks: Altered, Seventh Moon and now Lovely Molly. As with his two previous movies, Sanchez displays his keen ability to build suspense as a director, delivering organic creepiness without force-feeding scares. His script is similarly restrained, eschewing a lot of over-the-top gore and visuals and, much like Blair Witch, allowing the viewer to interpret the nature of the events onscreen.

It would be great to see Sanchez get a shot at a bigger-budget major-studio production, if for no other reason than so we won't have to suffer through another The Apparition.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: B-
DVD: C

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