Movie Review: Wraith

credit: Wraith

There are a lot of times when film critics love something or at least find it in them to like a movie and somehow drop the ball in a big way. Wraith has a lot of promise since it has an interesting premise, it does promise the appearance of an actor that many people still enjoy, and the setting helps further when it comes to painting a picture that people might like. Unfortunately, once one moves past the title and the premise, it becomes easy to ascertain that it’s all window dressing that doesn’t hold up once the story starts. It’s a matter of opinion, of course, but trying to justify the respect given to this movie is tricky since it’s easy enough to say that every story deserves to be told. Still, there are times when those telling the story drop the ball, so to speak. A ghost story can be many things since it’s up for interpretation. But there are times when a ghost story falls flat. 

credit: Wraith

The characters aren’t believable, which is a big detractor. 

It’s not exactly nice or polite to knock the work of an actor, or actors, when one has never lived the life or even tried to put themselves out there in such a way. But as a movie fan, there is still enough leeway to state that if an actor doesn’t perform well enough, it’s less than appealing to watch. The fact is that this group of actors aren’t as bad as they could be, but the acting isn’t that far removed from something that might be seen as a parody that’s trying to come off as a serious picture. To their credit, the actors in this movie do a decent job of trying to push the story forward, but overall they create a rather ho-hum situation that doesn’t come off as a severe and threatening ghost story. 

The overall story isn’t that entertaining. 

For one, the premise that the family has been staying in their home for ten years before a ghost contacts them is ridiculous. It’s fair to think that a delayed reaction by a ghost might be possible, but it does feel as though there isn’t a lot to explain why this sudden emergence is happening, nor why its importance of it is that compelling. In other words, this story falls flat every time it tries to get going and isn’t helped by the poor acting or the developments that continue to occur from one scene to the next. As a TV movie, it’s one of those that a person might watch if they can’t take the type of horror that many would consider to be a little more traditional. But despite all that, there are those who tend to think that Wraith is a worthwhile movie, perhaps because it offers a little chill without having to get into the blood and gore aspects that many other movies do so thoroughly enjoy expressing. But in terms of the story, which could have made up for the lackadaisical acting, there was little help from that direction. 

credit: Wraith

The fact that it’s a TV movie doesn’t make much difference.

There are plenty of TV movies that are a lot of fun to watch since they end up telling a compelling story, but this isn’t one of them. Wraith has a decent title, a fun premise to start with, and a promise that it doesn’t deliver on as the entire movie is spent with a snarky teen that doesn’t sound as though she believes in her own attitude and parents that are dimmer than a tea candle that’s about to gutter out. Trying to get into this movie was difficult since it failed the side view test in a big way, meaning that one could easily forget they were watching the movie from the side of their vision while trying to do something else. Even writing up a piece on a movie like this becomes difficult since saying ‘it sucks’ isn’t exactly polite, nor is it adequate to point out any good parts that might exist. 

It’s not easy to recommend this movie, but it’s worth it just to say you’ve seen it. 

Judging a movie isn’t exactly fair if you’ve never sat down to watch it, especially since there might be a chance to state that it has a few redeeming qualities. With this movie, though, those redeeming qualities are few and far between since the story doesn’t support itself, much less the actors’ efforts and the settings used to build it up. In other words, this movie was, more or less, kind of dull from every angle. 

If you want a different version of Casper, here you go.