The Skeptic

THE SKEPTIC

A 2009 auteur film (written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell) about a lawyer named Bryan who moves into a house that may or may not be haunted, The Skeptic features fresh and humorous dialogue (mostly banter between Bryan and his friend Sully) that balances out some disturbing and truly creepy scenes.  Bryan inherits (or at least thinks he does) the house from his estranged aunt.  He later learns that her will states that she has left the property to an academic program headed by a Dr. Warren Koven.  Bryan (who is separated from his wife and child) goes to meet the professor and finds that he is a parapsychologist.  Bryan experiences increasingly frightening occurrences in the house (starting with hearing eerie whispering while he’s in bed) but refuses to believe in ghosts.  With the help of a shrink, a psychic named Cassie, and Dr. Koven, Bryan sets out to discover if something’s wrong with his mental health or if he will have to alter his belief system to include the supernatural.  The movie’s ending is slightly ambiguous (on purpose) but emotionally satisfying.

There has not been a truly great haunted house film since 2001’s The Others, but The Skeptic comes close to deserving the same level of critical praise bestowed upon that Nicole Kidman vehicle.  I thoroughly enjoyed the bold choice to make Bryan a strongly-opinionated (to the point of being nearly unsympathetic) fellow who takes no guff from anyone (including his wife).  He is a singular and memorable protagonist.  The project’s tempo is just fast enough to keep the viewer hooked into the mystery of what’s going on in the house.  Add a fine score composed by Brett Rosenberg over an assortment of apparently ghostly happenings in a sprawling old house and you’ve got a recipe for a top-notch horror film.  I suspect that The Skeptic will hold up to repeat viewings, and I intend to test that hypothesis by watching it again before Halloween.