The idea that spirits of the dead try to communicate with the living is an intriguing one. And the connection between twins has fascinated humanity for a long time. So, putting them together in a movie ought to make for an interesting and scary movie, right? Wrong!
Haunting Sarah really focuses on twins Erica & Heather (Kim Raver in a dual role), who have a very close bond. Erica is college professor who teaches mythology. Heather is a pediatrician. Erica has a daughter named Sarah (Niamh Wilson). Heather has a son named David (Ryland Thiessen) who is almost exactly the same age. The cousins are also very close, and both families live near each other and see a lot of each other. This pleasant setup is shattered when David is killed by a careless driver while trying to retrieve his favorite toy, which he has dropped in the street. When Erica goes to tell Sarah about it, Sarah claims to already know because David told her in a dream. Sarah's behavior becomes more and more bizarre, until her parents decide to get her out of the city and take her to the family cabin for the summer. Grieving, and unable to continue with her practice, Heather comes to join them. As the summer continues, Sarah's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, as does Heather's. When Erica begins to suspect that Heather is hoping that David will be reincarnated through Erica's unborn baby, things take a particularly strange twist, resulting in some incredible surprises.
This could have been a very interesting premise if the writing hadn't been so heavy handed. Unfortunately instead of using subtlety and suspicion to get the point across, the screenwriters beat you over the head with it. The end result is a film which becomes annoyingly bland.
Also, much of the characterization makes little sense. If Erica and Heather are really so close, Heather's deception of Erica really shouldn't work. And after Heather's motives have been discovered, why would Erica turn to her for help. Likewise, David was, by all accounts, a good kid. It makes no sense that he returns as an evil spirit, especially as one that is bent on destroying his beloved cousin. Likewise, Sarah's thinly veiled declaration of her intent to get revenge on him at the end of the movie makes little sense, although it is somewhat satisfying after everything that has gone on. The husbands are little more than cardboard cutouts, and Heather's husband, Richard (Gordon Tanner) disappears from the action very early on. Where is he while all of this is going on? What does he think of his wife's actions? Where is he at the end of the film? That's just unforgivably careless writing.
The acting doesn't rise above the material much, either. Raver does manage to generate two very different characters for Erica and Heather, but both performances tended to be somewhat wooden. Wilson seems to sleepwalk through the part of Sarah. Thiessen gives David some real malice with the little screen time he gets. Perhaps the best, and most fully realized performance was Alison Sealy-Smith as Rosie, who played her part with verve and commitment.
All in all, a rather sodden mess, and given the setup, a real disappointment.
Haunting Sarah really focuses on twins Erica & Heather (Kim Raver in a dual role), who have a very close bond. Erica is college professor who teaches mythology. Heather is a pediatrician. Erica has a daughter named Sarah (Niamh Wilson). Heather has a son named David (Ryland Thiessen) who is almost exactly the same age. The cousins are also very close, and both families live near each other and see a lot of each other. This pleasant setup is shattered when David is killed by a careless driver while trying to retrieve his favorite toy, which he has dropped in the street. When Erica goes to tell Sarah about it, Sarah claims to already know because David told her in a dream. Sarah's behavior becomes more and more bizarre, until her parents decide to get her out of the city and take her to the family cabin for the summer. Grieving, and unable to continue with her practice, Heather comes to join them. As the summer continues, Sarah's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, as does Heather's. When Erica begins to suspect that Heather is hoping that David will be reincarnated through Erica's unborn baby, things take a particularly strange twist, resulting in some incredible surprises.
This could have been a very interesting premise if the writing hadn't been so heavy handed. Unfortunately instead of using subtlety and suspicion to get the point across, the screenwriters beat you over the head with it. The end result is a film which becomes annoyingly bland.
Also, much of the characterization makes little sense. If Erica and Heather are really so close, Heather's deception of Erica really shouldn't work. And after Heather's motives have been discovered, why would Erica turn to her for help. Likewise, David was, by all accounts, a good kid. It makes no sense that he returns as an evil spirit, especially as one that is bent on destroying his beloved cousin. Likewise, Sarah's thinly veiled declaration of her intent to get revenge on him at the end of the movie makes little sense, although it is somewhat satisfying after everything that has gone on. The husbands are little more than cardboard cutouts, and Heather's husband, Richard (Gordon Tanner) disappears from the action very early on. Where is he while all of this is going on? What does he think of his wife's actions? Where is he at the end of the film? That's just unforgivably careless writing.
The acting doesn't rise above the material much, either. Raver does manage to generate two very different characters for Erica and Heather, but both performances tended to be somewhat wooden. Wilson seems to sleepwalk through the part of Sarah. Thiessen gives David some real malice with the little screen time he gets. Perhaps the best, and most fully realized performance was Alison Sealy-Smith as Rosie, who played her part with verve and commitment.
All in all, a rather sodden mess, and given the setup, a real disappointment.