Haunting Sarah (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews

Has Potential, but Fails Mostly in the End

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 21 April 2009]

The writer and college professor of mythology Erica (Kim Raver) and her pediatrician sister Heather (Kim Raver) are twin sisters and very connected since they were child. Erica's daughter Sarah (Niamh Wilson) and Heather's son David (Ryland Thiessen) are close as siblings. However, when David is hit by a car and dies in a silly accident, Sarah has premonitions and claims that she still talks and plays with her cousin. Meanwhile Erica finds that she is pregnant and need to rest and Heather is informed that she can not have a baby anymore. Erica travels to a cottage nearby a lake and Erica's maid Rosie (Alison Sealy-Smith) explains to Erica that the spirit of David does not realize that he abruptly died and is grabbed to Sarah waiting for the chance to reborn. But Erica does not believe in her words and sends Rosie back home, staying in the house with Sarah and Heather. When the spirit of David is aggressive with Sarah, Erica calls Rosie to help her.

"Haunting Sarah" has potential but unfortunately fails mostly in the end. The idea of the connection between twins and a spirit refusing to move on and wishes to reincarnate in a baby is intriguing and even spooky in some moments, but not well explored. Unfortunately the writer and the director never decide whether the movie is drama or horror and give a commercial unsatisfactory resolution to the plot. There are many flaws in the development of the characters, like for example, the confused relationship of Erica and Heather – is Heather an evil twin? Why did she build a spirit house? Why Erica follows her in the end? Edgar is very weak and disappointing, taking no attitude; it would be better off that Erica was divorced; and why David would transform in a fiend in his after death and hurt his beloved cousin? In the hands of Stephen King and Mary Lambert, this movie might be great. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Aparição" ("Apparition")

Not Bad, but could have been better!

[suemartin23264 · 5/10 · 2 June 2007]

This is one of those movies that you happen to come across on some obscure channel, and as there's nothing else on, you decide to watch it. Unlike the reviews state, this isn't actually all bad. It does have some good points to it.

The first half of this film is undoubtedly the best, but after that halfway line, it definitely begins to slip. Although it has the potential to be great, it descends and descends in enjoyment until you're left with a mess.

The basic plot line is:

Two twin sisters, both having children, throw a Halloween party. This is how the film starts, and it identifies the fact that the daughter of one of the sisters and the son of the other are really close. But then, the son (named David) gets run over accidentally when he drops his toy robot in the middle of the road and runs to retrieve it. However, the daughter says that he isn't dead. At first, the mother of the girl just thinks its shock, but then strange things begin happening, which suggest that maybe the boy's come back. The question that runs through this movie and makes up the plot line is: Why?

It starts off well, but then it gets a little strange and weird towards the end. It's worth a viewing, no doubt, but there's nothing here to go crazy about.

One can only help that a director will see this movie's potential, and make a remake of it that's much, MUCH better.

Even the dead have secrets to share.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 1 November 2014]

A Hallmark Channel horror film that is based on Lisa Grunwald's novel New Year's Eve. The plot is based around two identical twin sisters played by Kim Raver, both of whom have 7 year old children called Sarah and David, both of whom have developed a close bond whilst growing up. When David is tragically killed, it becomes apparent that Sarah believes David is still in contact with her, something which causes friction between the twins.

Very effective spooker this, with decent literary smarts involving grief and the always fascinating subject of identical twins. Raver's dual performance and that of young Niamh Wilson as Sarah keeps the production on a good footing, while the chills and thrills are capably mounted by director Ralph Hemecker. Not what you would call essential for horror fans, but as TV produced movies go this is a good effort all round. 7/10

Interesting premise, uninspired execution

[dwr246 · 1/10 · 10 October 2005]

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.

Love this movie!

[brittanyls · 7/10 · 29 September 2006]

At first, I only watched this movie because Kim Raver was in it, but within the first 5 minutes I was hooked! I will definitely recommend this movie!! This is a great movie; the acting is great, the storyline line is interesting!! It's a great mix of scary and at times sweet! I was on the edge of my seat for some of the scenes-(that has rarely happened watching anything other than X-Files). I love the way Erica's dream sequences are filmed. The black and white colors add to the eeriness of the scenes- with only small amounts of color coming through! I have loved Kim Raver since watching her on 'Third Watch' and especially on '24', but she shows her incredible amount of talent with playing the 2 main roles. She is amazing in how she plays two completely different people! "good" Erica", and "evil" Heather. Two thumbs up for this movie! Big time!

Bleagh

[jowysiren · 1/10 · 8 October 2005]

The only thing I could think of was "just awful". I found some of the scenes, particularly the ending ones, gratuitous and that such a thing can only be forgiven if the movie/show is stylishly slick or or outright exceptional. This movie was neither.

Basically, a young boy dies in an accident and his cousin named Sarah is haunted by his spirit(which for some never really well explained reason is evil. Buh?) There's some supposedly creepy things that happen and Sarah ends up being close to death and the mother(who is an identical twin)has to have son for her to survive(since David wants to come back to life).

The movie just fails because it has that generic Lifetime feel that both tries too hard yet not hard enough. Only the Sarah girl was any good. Everyone else was just wooden. I have to admit though, I did like the leather costume on one of the twin women. That was pretty cool, but before and after that was either lame(kid in Devil mask? Bah!), needlessly disgusting(I don't think a C-section should have been that graphic. YECH! Only House and CSI could get away with that), or just "meh"(amulets to ward off spirits? How original).

If you're a die hard spirit horror fan, you might like it. If not, best to steer clear. I should have.

This could have been SOOOO much better!!!!!!

[ENIGMA05 · 4/10 · 3 October 2005]

I've waited two weeks to see this movie because it sounded really interesting. But now that I have seen it, I must say it could have been so much better. Kim Raver did a wonderful job playing the twin sisters, however she was the only conceivable character in the whole movie. When David is killed and he comes back to haunt Sarah, no one knows why he's there or exactly what he's saying or doing. We don't even see him until towards the end of the movie when Sarah is possessed by him. And another thing, why would David be a violent spirit if he was a good kid that just died tragically? Ususally violent spirits are those who were horrible on earth and are facing purgatory.

The dream that Sarah's mom keeps having is never explained, the whole hatting process isn't shown to its full capacity, nor why David's spirit has to go into the newborn baby boy in order for Sarah to survive. There's a lot of fascinating aspects that are just left as cliff hangers for viewers to figure out and the movie just runs out of steam.

Personally, this movie could've been done a lot better had the producers done some research into the matter or at least tried to tie loose ends. I wouldn't recommend this movie to people who are interested in the subject as it is just too broad and inconclusive.

I give it a 4/10 just for Kim Raver's performance alone. She's the only actress that fit her role(s) perfectly.

Cookie cutter TV movie

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 31 January 2015]

The usual TV movie ghost story nonsense. HAUNTING SARAH bears a title almost exactly the same as a similarly-themed '80s ghost story, THE HAUNTING OF SARAH, making me wonder why only housewives named Sarah seem to suffer the effects of a haunting in American-made TV movies.

Anyway, this one has a intriguing set up: the main characters are a pair of identical twins (difficult to differentiate, given the scriptwriter's inability to provide characterisation) who are both married with children. When one of their kids is killed in a tragic car accident, the daughter of the other begins to exhibit symptoms of being controlled and guided by his spirit.

I was mildly involved in this opening scenario, despite the typical deficiencies in a TV movie: poor production values, play-it-safe content, middling performances and a samey feel. However, the early potential is soon wasted in too much of the clichéd 'is she/isn't she' mad storyline, and boring scenes of families arguing. The child acting is pretty poor, it has to be said, and occasionally the film veers into outright ham with some sub-EXORCIST hijinks. Not recommended, then.

Loved It !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrsMercury91 · 10/10 · 4 October 2005]

I just LOVED this movie... I had read a comment about Why would David return an Evil Spirit? Answer simply put... A comment from the movie... "David was a stubborn child and always had to have his way".... When a Person suffers a Tragic Death as he did, they won't accept that they are dead...Some people believe, some don't... I am a Believer.... EXCELLENT MOVIE!!! I can't wait for this movie to come out on DVD because I will be the first person in line to buy it..I give this movie way more than the 10 that they allow for you to give...I would like to see more of these kinds of movies. Please put this movie out as soon as possible on DVD Thanks !

Disappointingly tame supernatural horror/drama

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 5/10 · 29 April 2015]

After a devastating accident, a woman comes to believe her twin sisters' recently-deceased son has come back through her new child to continue his relationship with her daughter and must stop his possessive nature.

This was an incredibly limp and lifeless affair as there's hardly anything worthwhile here. The biggest plus here is that it does a rather nice job of making the possession seem realistic, from the drawings of the future to the secretive behavior in the twins' relationship as well as the marks on her body. All of this is nicely explained and given some real thought, especially in the later half when that behavior starts to get into rather freaky territory with their growing attachment and expensive gifts that seem to hide something more to it. It also features one rather cool sequence where the daughters' thrashing around in bed and they come rushing in to see what's wrong, and once seeing it's a charm bracelet as the cause remove it immediately only to find a supernatural cause flying in and wrecking the room. However, nothing is really interesting here due to the film's nature since it can't really go too extreme or terrifying, literally cutting this one off from the points that would've sold this one the most. The fact that the possession really amounts to mouthing off at the mother, hiding away from her to go be with the sister in secret and not sharing anything about their activities together and in general not showing off any kind of truly thrilling or terrifying actions here is what really stands out since this allows more for the network audience to connect to the characters and the situations yet plagues this as a horror effort. That leaves a lot of rather boring scenes that don't have any impact due to how toned down or brief all these supposed scares are which in the end leaves it really wanting despite a few solid moments here and there.

Rated Unrated/PG-13: Mild Violence, some Language and intense themes of child loss and trauma.

Extremely slow, boring and no payoff

[gustheaffen · 1/10 · 10 December 2019]

This was just a very bad made for TV movie that probably wouldn't have even been on Most cable stations. Soooooo boring and slow. No payoff either.

Is it Sunday afternoon?

[tonitrish · 3/10 · 28 January 2022]

This is a film that you might want to swerve, yep, definitely swerve it. Boring, confusing, pointless housekeeper, worse than pointless husband and the twin set and pearl twin, well, lost for actual words. No plot, no scares, no nothing. Big fat swerve required.

this movie rocks

[Kitcatcait · 10/10 · 10 October 2005]

I love this movie so much! I usually do not like scary movies but I loved this one. Kim Raver did an excellent job! I have watched this movie twice and the first time I watched it I couldn't figure out which twin was which. If you have not seen this movie you are definitely missing out on a great movie! I hope you all watch this movie and love it as much as I do! I can not wait to see it again! I hope you like it enough to give it a ten rating. I did! If you have not voted yet you should. Kim Raver is such a great actress. I hope this movie comes out on video or DVD. I would definitely buy it! If you like suspenseful, horror movies this is a movie for you. Even if you do not like that kind of movie you should watch it.

I love this movie

[twocortwort7 · 10/10 · 8 October 2005]

I admit that at first the previews kind of scared me and I wasn't going to watch this movie. Just the title turned me off really, but come Monday night at 8:55pm I was like, OK I am going to watch this movie. I had the TV turned to Lifetime anyways. (one of my favorite channels) At first, I thought, gosh its going to be a real spooker because of the masks at the beginning with the Halloween party and I almost turned the channel! But as it went on, I got into it. I knew about David dying in the previews, but it got me when his spirit went "Sarah!" I felt so bad for Heather, but I was upset they killed David so early on in the movie.

But how David's spirit made weird things happen, like when Rosie gave Sarah the friendship bracelet, I had a feeling that David wasn't going to like that and nor was I shocked that he was trying to hurt/kill Sarah by tightening the bracelet. And then the doll house, that was really spooky to me! But I had a feeling when Erica became pregnant, she was going to have the re-incarnation of David or twins. Just that odd feeling to myself.

I never imagined this movie would end the way it did with Sarah jumping off the roof! I was in tears when this happened! And then the dramatic birth of the twins, all though seeing the first one born was a girl, I was like oh Gosh! Sarah is going to die. But then thinking down those lines of twins I was like the next one will be a boy.

The ending left me hanging with Sarah calling her brother Jack "David" but it's like is it over for real this time or not?

Awesome Lifetime Halloween movie

[corkymp89 · 10/10 · 3 October 2005]

Haunting Sarah was an awesome TV movie. It was totally different from all the other Lifetime movies! It had a great story line. A bit of drama in with thriller/horror. The girl playing Sarah did a great job. The ending is very surprising! This movie should have been in theaters! I suggest you watch it on Lifetime sometime this October since it is their new Halloween movie this year. It is based on a novel called "New Year's Eve" by Lisa Grunwald. I haven't read it yet. I definitely will give it a try though! This movie was sad, yet scary at the same time. Sarah and David are best friends; their mothers are identical twins. They are 7 years old, and one day David gets hit by a truck and is killed. Now Sarah is haunted by David (obviously from the title) and he wont let her go. He wants to be born again. This movie will make you think!