Monday, October 29, 2012

The Secret of Crickley Hall




I just happened upon "The Secret of Crickley Hall" (2012) on BBC America, a made for TV mini-series starring Tom Ellis and Suranne Jones.  It is based on a novel of the same name by James Herbert that I recently read.

The Caleigh family move from London to the country town of Devil's Cleave to Crickley Hall, a large old house.  The father believes it will be good for the mother to get away from town where their young son went missing a year ago.  Soon after moving into the large old house with their two daughters, strange things start to happen.  The door to the cellar where there is a well keeps opening.  A male spirit keeps hitting the children's hands with a switch.  There are unexplained noises and movements out of the corner of the eye.

The movie flashes back and forth between the present day Calieighs and 1943 when the house was an orphanage run by a sadistic brother and sister team.  In the goodness of their hearts they took children in from London which was being bombed during WWII.  The headmaster keeps a ledger of how many times he has to beat the children to gain their compliance.  The storylines eventually merge and come together and we see why the house is currently haunted by multiple ghosts.

This is a good haunted house story that faithfully follows the novel.  I'm glad I happened upon it.

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