Silver Falls has been plagued by suicides and ghost sightings since the murder of the Dahl twins (Jade and Nikita Ramsey) 20 years earlier. Jordan (Alix Elizabeth Gitter) moves to The Falls to live with her Aunt Anne (Tara Westwood) and Uncle Kevin (Steve Bacic) after losing both her parents. While attending a high school party, police show up and the crowd scatters quickly. New girl Jordan gets lost in the nearby woods; it was in these same woods that the Dahl twins were killed. While trying to find her way out, Jordan sees a ring in the brush, and unbeknownst to her, it belonged to one of the dead girls. It is this ring that forges a bond between Jordan and the twins, who need her help to expose their killer.
From the cover art of A Haunting at Silver Falls, I was expecting some head spinning demon, spewing pea soup and basically traumatizing anyone in its evil path. Well, this film is a bit more sedated than that. At times it feels more like a TV movie of the week than it does any kind of The Exorcist-type horror flick.
Silver Falls is a strange little town full of quirky people, including Jordan’s childless aunt and uncle, who have no idea how to relate to their new charge. Westwood and Bacic, as the aunt and uncle, are the standouts two people who appear to be quite normal, but are harboring very dangerous secrets. Gitter is fine as sullen teen Jordan, but once she has to shift into a young girl in the grips of terror and fighting for her life, she shows all too clearly that this is beyond her scope at this point at least as an actress.
Directed by Brett Donowho, A Haunting at Silver Falls is a decent take on those ‘get revenge from the grave’ films and if you think hell hath no fury like that from a living woman, wait until you see the fury from a couple of dead sisters. There are a few well-placed scares, especially when the Dahl twins suddenly appear out of nowhere, moving in that strange herky-jerky way made famous by those Japanese horror flicks like The Grudge.
There isn’t anything news worthy or unique about the movie, but in spite of its predictability, I enjoyed A Haunting at Silver Falls. It’s fun for a few scares, but not the type of movie that has a lasting impression.
Inception’s standard def 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation and the Dolby 5.1 Surround sound is just fine. The lighting is effectively used, especially in the way it hides the dead twins in eerie shadows, adding to the spooky nature of the film. There are no extras included; only the film’s trailer is available in this bare bones DVD release.
This film is certainly not the next great thing, but A Haunting at Silver Falls isn’t some horribly awful film either. It’s not good or bad, but hovers somewhere in between.
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