The Skeptic (film)

The Skeptic
File:The Skeptic Poster.jpg Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tennyson Bardwell
Written by	Tennyson Bardwell
Produced by	Tennyson Bardwell Isen Robbins Aimee Schoof Mary-Beth Taylor
Starring	Tim Daly Zoe Saldana Tom Arnold
Cinematography	Claudio Rocha
Edited by	Ann Marie Lizzi
Music by	Brett Rosenberg
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release date	May 1, 2009
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Box office	$1,553 (Domestic)

The Skeptic is a 2009 American horror film written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell. Starring Tim Daly, Zoe Saldana, and Tom Arnold, it depicts the story of an attorney who is skeptical about the supernatural and moves into a house that appears to be haunted.

Written in the 1980s, the film was made in New York from late 2005 through 2006. Completed in 2008, it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival before being purchased by IFC Films for a limited theatrical release, starting May 1, 2009, and airing on their video on demand channel. The film was panned for its lack in suspense, poor acting and dialog, and being reminiscent of 1970s television horror films.

Plot

Lawyer Bryan Becket (Tim Daly) moves into his late aunt's reputedly haunted Victorian mansion after her passing. Becket does not believe in supernatural events, and continually ignores signs that the home really is haunted, while trying to explore the connection he feels to the house. His partner in the firm, Sully (Tom Arnold), does believe in the supernatural, and tries to warn Becket that something is wrong about the house. As the haunting turns more personal, Beckett is unable to ignore it any longer and begins doubting his own sanity. He seeks help from a scientist (Bruce Altman), a psychiatrist (Edward Herrmann), and a priest (Robert Prosky), unaware that they all know more about him and the house than they are telling him. Eventually, he turns to a psychic named Cassie (Zoe Saldana), who quickly determines there is a "very bad secret" in the house. Together, they try to learn what this secret is, while dealing with repressed memories from Becket's childhood.

Production

Writer and director Tennyson Bardwell wrote the first draft of The Skeptic's script in the 1980s. His wife, Mary-Beth Taylor, was one of the film's four producers. Shooting begin in 2005, with eight weeks spent filming in various locations around Bardwell's hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York and Ballston Spa. The Batcheller Mansion Inn is the setting for the three-story Victorian mansion where much of the film takes place. The film crew paid for exclusive use of the mansion for five weeks during its off-season. It was Bardwell's first time working with Hollywood actors, having used only locals and new theater school graduates in his first film. Filming was completed in 2006 and post-production finished in 2008.

In creating the film, a markedly different genre from his first work, the 2004 comedy Dorian Blues, Bardwell aimed to create a film that would be "a Rorschach test for people's beliefs," in which viewers would have different ideas of what happened. Intended to concentrate on the psychological rather than gore, the film has no "blood and guts" and instead requires viewers to be skeptical and open to the different possible interpretations of the ending.

Release

The Skeptic was presented at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival before the Independent Film Channel purchased it for distribution. IFC first released it to their video on demand channel on April 29, 2009. The film premiered theatrically in Saratoga Springs on May 1, 2009, opened in Albany, New York on May 8, and is scheduled to be released in Beverly Hills on May 15.

Reception

In its opening weekend in a single theater, The Skeptic earned $1,553.

The film generally was panned by critics. In his review in Variety, Dennis Harvey considered the film to be an "effectively creepy, modestly scaled piece" and praised its "atmospherics " while also considering the plot unoriginal and, at times, corny. Fernado Croce of Slant Magazine called it a "tepid horror-comedy", feeling Bardwell was a "gentle director" ill-suited for attempting to create a feeling of shock and horror, resulting in a work that "awkwardly suggests Poltergeist as a 12-step self-help program." Ed Gonzalez of The Village Voice called it a "TV grade suspenser" that "channels the spirit of Murder, She Wrote and 3-2-1 Contact's Bloodhound Gang" and as vigorous as the typical Scarecrow and Mrs. King episode. He found the script to be overwritten and a "mechanical compendium of anti-skepticism clichés". Frank Lovece of The Hollywood Reporter agreed, referring to it as a "rare old-fashioned supernatural suspenser" that lacked suspense, and felt it was reminiscent of unmemorable 1970s made-for-television family friendly horror films. He both praised and criticized Bardwell's writing and direction as being "carefully though without inspiration", and the dialog as "bald and blatant" lacking in subtext and subtlety.

In The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the film a "a cut-and-dried Freudian melodrama that gives repressed memory a supernatural dimension" and preferred a regular teen horror flick to Bardwell's attempt at making a "haunted house movie for grownups". Steve Ramos, Boxoffice Magazine, felt the film was "polished but dull" and that its lack of special effects would result in it being unable to attract mainstream audiences. He also felt Daly overacted in the role and "lack[ed] the emotional depth to support an entire movie, ghost story or otherwise." He praised cinematographer Claudio Rocha for his work in creating a believable haunted house and the film's overall high production values, wishing it had been matched by quality storytelling.

External links

• Official website
• The Skeptic at IMDb
• The Skeptic at Metacritic
• The Skeptic at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:Ymovies title
• The Skeptic at AllMovie

I HEARD THIS MOVIE SUCKS