Lovely Molly (2011)

The ads for Lovely Molly would like you to believe that one of the makers of Blair Witch project has redefined the horror genre once again. Well I wouldn't go that far but this is one disturbing, creepy movie. Without a doubt the strongest work the director has accomplished since that now iconic film. The film centers on a young woman named Molly who moves in with her newlywed Husband into her childhood home. Three months after the young couple month in incidents begin to occur. And since Molly is left alone most of the time because her husband is a truck driver she begins to think she's crazy. Having had a past with drug abuse and other forgotten incidents that are emerging the film straddles the line between the supernatural and reality before combining both of those elements in a new, truly disturbing fashion. The movie starts off weak with a cheesy, home video of a confession from Molly but after that it begins to center itself building the story uniquely. At points you feel as you've seen this film before maybe not with this character or from this angle but it feels familiar. Trust me it's not, you have no idea where it's headed and just how nightmarish it becomes. Many may have a problem with the melding of serious drama and psychological horror and truth be told the infidelity subplot feels forced and its a waste of time but everything else fits quite solidly. There are some moments when I just wanted to stop watching I was so ridden with anxiety. So in that sense the director nails the material for the most part. The other thing thats a little uneven in the film is the central performance from newcomer Gretchen Lodge. Yes it's definitely a big role and it's a hard one to pull off and you can see all the effort she's put into it which is admirable but it ends up looking so forced at times and overacted at others and than a little annoying at others. Not to say she doesn't have genuine moments but it would have been better if the role had been tackled in a more subtle way. That being said a sense of realism is established early on in the film and hardly ever wavers making the incidents at the end that much more powerful. Johnny Lewis does well as her new husband but the star of the show here is Alexandra Holden a veteran of cheesy teen comedies such as Drop dead Gorgeous and Sugar and Spice she really gets to show her chops off in a small but powerful role as Molly's sister she really deserves some recognition for her solid work. And thats the thing about this movie so many of the elements beg for a slightly better execution if it had been done just a bit finer it could have been a true horror masterpiece still what stands is a great genre film with some of the most disturbing imagery seen well since the blair witch project. 4/5

Fmovies: Her parents both dead, Molly (Gretchen Lodge) moves into her childhood home with trucker husband Tim (Johnny Lewis); but while Tim is away at work, Molly begins to experience terrifying occurrences that make her believe that she is being haunted by the spirit of her abusive father. As the terror mounts nightly, Molly—an ex-junkie—finds herself returning to her old habits for comfort...

Eduardo Sánchez's Lovely Molly begins with a close-up of a distraught Molly speaking directly to her video camera—a scene that directly references Heather Donahue's classic monologue from Sánchez's 1999 hit The Blair Witch Project; it's a rather amusing move by the director, one that blatantly acknowledges the similarities in technique and style between his new film and that with which he first made his name.

Thankfully, despite a very familiar feel to proceedings throughout (particularly thanks to a fair amount of shaky hand-held video footage), Lovely Molly does mark another level of progression for Sánchez as a film-maker: it is a technically superior piece to Blair Witch, the plot being far more complex and the production more polished, but more importantly, it sees the director using tricks developed on his first few films much more effectively, taking the terror to new heights.

Certainly for the first hour or so, Lovely Molly succeeds in being one of the scariest movies in a long while, Sánchez using his tried and trusted bag of tricks—creepy noises, impenetrable blackness, a well developed sense of vulnerability—to ramp up the tension to pant-wetting levels; he is aided in no small part by a fine central performance from Lodge (who is indeed very lovely!) and excellent sound design which adds immensely to the eerie atmosphere.

Sadly, the nearer the film approaches the end, the less it succeeds in chilling the spine: Sánchez slowly loses his grip on proceedings, with way too many plot details hurriedly brought into play, and the ambiguous nature of the narrative leading to utter confusion rather than fright. Ultimately, the viewer is left to question whether Molly has lost her mind or whether there really was a supernatural explanation for her behaviour. Reaching a satisfactory conclusion ain't easy.

8 out of 10 for the first hour; 5 out of 10 for the rest (an average of 6.5/10 by my calculations, which gets rounded up to a 7 for IMDb).

Look the movie is creepy and got me suspended for a long time. It was successful in creating suspense and intensity but in my opinion fails to deliver a message or an ending.

There is a moment towards the end where Molly goes out to hug "someone" I am not gonna say it so I wont spoil it for you but I keep wondering what on earth did they think when they were making this scene! Another part that I will vaguely criticize is the struggle-less death that happened in the movie. It just doesn't make any sense.

Overall, I gave the movie 6 stars because it was exciting and creepy but I was pretty disappointed with the end and how things developed eventually.

Lovely Molly fmovies. Tremendously glad I got to see this film at TIFF. Not content to adhere to the one-two punch of a little quiet followed by a jump-scare that seems de rigueur in modern horror cinema, Sanchez delivers hardcore on the building of atmospheric tension and a sense of creeping dread. This is achieved so well, in fact, that I was unaware of the precise moment at which one of the characters' fears became my own. The leads are honest in their performances, with Lodge being utterly fearless within the delivery of a truly fearful character, and none of the relationships smack of the disingenuous--other horror filmmakers take note; we're more creeped out when we're creeped out by and for actual people. If you need a dude with an axe/machete/mask combo, this one might be a little subtle for you. If you want to squirm wile you bask in the sense that everything is horribly wrong, you can't miss this film.

A newly-wed couple move to a new home. This place was the childhood house of the wife, Molly. She experienced some trauma there as a child. Immediately on arrival strange frightening things begin to occur. As a recovering heroin addict, the terrifying events are put down by some to be the result of her returning to drugs. Her husband is mostly away from home because of his work, leaving Molly on her own. She films many things on a hand-held camera.

The latest film from Eduardo Sánchez, one of the co-directors of The Blair Witch Project, is a different kind of horror film from that one but with similarities. The film opens á la Blair Witch with a close up of a woman who is filming herself; she is in terror for reasons not yet understood. The videotaped material which appears throughout is generally a clear nod to that famous film. But that's where the similarities end, as Lovely Molly is a much more traditional supernatural horror movie. It's one of those films where the set-up allows for several possible answers to the unknown terror. Is the source of Molly's trauma the supernatural? Her inner demons? Is it drug-induced? By the end of the movie there are answers of sorts, although there remains an enigmatic quality. The audience are allowed to piece things together themselves. It's one of those pictures that you want to watch again after a first viewing to try to put together all the pieces of the puzzle.

Gretchen Lodge is excellent in the central role. It's a part which demands some emotionally fraught moments. Lovely Molly is all about the central character, most of everything is told from her perspective. Another significant contributing factor is the soundtrack. It's very eerie but it isn't typical horror music. The score is by the band Tortoise who are one of the pioneers of post-rock. The atmospherics they help create are pretty significant here; discordant humming and threatening sounds. Add to this the little weird details such as the horses' heads, the disconnected scenes of the neighbouring family or the weird shrine in the cellar. There are a lot of things to spook you out.

This has to go down as an excellent return to the horror genre by Sánchez. It has a good balance of suspense, mystery, weirdness and dramatics to ensure that Lovely Molly is one of the more interesting horror efforts of late.

Lovely Molly is the tale of one woman's painful past returning to take hold of her once more just as she begins her marriage to her new husband in her family's old home. Molly's transformation throughout the film is beautifully played by Gretchen Lodge, each bit of her turmoil peels back another layer of her past and the horror unraveling around her.

The bond with her sister, played by Alexandra Holden is believable and real, the interactions between the two women showing the conflicting feelings of fear and love as they both struggle with the changes in Molly and the memories of the past.

Thick with tense moments, Lovely Molly is eerie, tragic, and disturbing but not rife with gore or shocks designed to make you jump in your seat. Instead, there is a sense of inevitable dread that hangs in the air throughout the entire film. The house itself is as much a character in the film as those who inhabit it. Every small old room, creaking doorway, bit of chipped paint and worn wood seems to hold the promise of something sinister.

And that is a promise that does not go unfulfilled.