The Skeptic

2009
5.6| 1h29m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 May 2009 Released
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After the mysterious death of his Aunt, a confirmed skeptic lawyer, Bryan Becket, dismisses reports that her house is haunted and moves in. Immediately occurrences begin he cannot explain. And beyond the occurrences there is something about the house which gnaws at Becket - some strange connection he senses he has with the house's past. Soon, the haunting turns personal.

Genre

Horror, Thriller

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Director

Tennyson Bardwell

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The Skeptic Audience Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Staci Frederick Blistering performances.
GL84 When a relative passes, a man inherits her decrepit old mansion and coming to learn she believed it haunted sets out to prove it was simply a matter of unrecognizing everyday events around her unaware of a deadly secret lurking within its walls.This here turned out to be an incredibly dull and barely worthwhile entry. The main problem here, which just about ruins the film right off the bat, is the fact that the film's about a person's nature of being skeptical, a trait which means that every time something supposedly supernatural could happen it's always shot down as realistic instead of supernatural, a rather distressing fact made more damaging due to being presented as absolute fact with constant berating and mocking directed at those who think otherwise. This behavior, from the lead no less, makes it an almost unbearable act to get into the film from the beginning as being around such an irritating figure is hard to stand. That this is given to other characters, who each spend most of the time engaging in the same exact behavior throughout the entire film of making it attempt to be realistic rather than trying to emphasize the supernatural hauntings really makes the film's attempts at generating scares pretty worthless. The banging off-screen doors, whispering voices and moving objects to different locations that are being used for that purpose then don't mean anything when they occur since it's all pretty much ignored and explained, reducing their effectiveness long before how tame they are ruins the film in that manner, leaving this whole thing incredibly flawed with a damaging gimmick, lame scares and a boring pace which really kills off the few positive points it developed.Rated PG-13: Violence and Language.
davejderisi I found this film in a pile of movies at a pawn shop near my house. As a fan of the IFC line of films, I decided to pick it up. This movie unfolds at a very good pace. Every scene seemed important and the entertainment did not die down once. This is a ghost story type of movie and honestly it kinda felt like a TV movie, but that just made for a warm feel. Fellas, it's a good movie to watch with your girlfriend, but don't expect blood and guts because its the uneasy type of scary that this films delivers. There should be more low key horror films like this. another title that's similar but a little upscale with the terror is "The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh". I highly recommend it if you liked "The Skeptic".
chaugnurfaugn-269-83012 There are already plenty of reviews for this film that perfectly sum up the entire experience. A great movie, fantastic development, truly creepy atmospherics and psychological horror but a truly horrible ending.So instead of give my opinion of the movie, I'd like to present everyone who watched it and was deflated by the last scene with The Alternative Ending To Skeptic (The Haunting of Bryan Becket), written and produced by David Sharrock, budget zero. You may not like it, but it's my attempt to spice things up and give that last scene some bazoom instead of the reality which is something of a flacid wither.First a recap. Spoilers here, so if you haven't watched this movie, stop reading right now. I mean it. Look away. Go watch the real thing then come back and get the alternative ending, because you're going to want it.Bryan Becket (Tim Daly) is a skeptic. He doesn't believe in anything and follows the basic rules of skepticism. He has a pretty good bullsh*t radar and knows good science from bad science. He's a lawyer, so logic and a sound ability to analyze any given situation are strong points for him.When his aunt dies, Bryan is typically candid about his feelings. He doesn't have any. But he's thrilled that his aunt's death means he'll inherit an enormous Gothic mansion.Things are not going great between Bryan and his wife Robin so Bryan announces a trial separation (much to Robin's dismay) and moves into his aunt's house. When good buddy and business partner Sully (Tom Arnold) reveals that the aunt had a will and that the house has been left to a paranormal investigator working at the local college, Bryan is understandably miffed and goes in search of said professor. Their first meeting isn't particularly affable, but when Bryan starts seeing things in the house he seeks the professor's advice and discovers that the prof is just a big a skeptic as Bryan himself purports to be. For the rest, go watch the movie.The alternative final scene (relies on certain previous scenes being changed a bit. Namely that Cassie looks in the closet in her last scene before the end and that the Sully/Bryan scene doesn't take place in court near the end..."Cassie?" shouts Bryan. "Where are you?" He rings her mobile and, to his surprise, hears a ringing sound coming from under the blankets of the bed next to him. He pulls the covers back slowly to reveal Cassie's phone."What the?" Bryan picks up the phone and examines it with a puzzled frown. His eyes move across the room to crucifix closet - you know, the place his mother used to lock him for days at a time. He steps toward the door and puts his hand on the handle. Turns handle. Door creaks open. Flash of blood everywhere in the shadows. Blood on the notes, on the walls, on the statue of Mary.Flashback to Robin frowning at the closet door and heading over to open it as Bryan cowers behind his son. She screams, hands flying to her face. Cut to Bryan covered in blood, doing something on the floor. Cut to Bryan dragging the bodies into the closet 'ok mother? Can I go now?' Flashback to Sully scaring the sh*t out of everyone with his mask routine. But this time Bryan isn't laughing. Cut to Bryan dragging an unconscious Sully upstairs. Cut to Bryan opening the closet door and dragging Sully inside. Cut to Sully opening his eyes and screaming.Flashback to priest coming to visit and getting same treatment. Cut to Bryan having nice breakfast with Cassie and leaving, but then returning as she's peeking into the closet, looming up behind her. She screams at what she sees then Bryan hits her across the back of her head.Next scene: Bryan in the basement standing over the trunk. Lifts it slowly to reveal black bags, bloodied. A hand sticks out of one - Cassie's. He sobs as he looks up. A shadow cross his face. A doll shaped shadow, floating in the air. "Mother?" Whispers: "Bryan." Cut to credits.
shopgirl6 Just saw this last night and really liked it for the following reason(s):A good, smart thriller that does not feel it needs to hit you over the head to make its points. The creaking noises, the visions that you don't know if are real or a product of this guy's imagination (hey, he had a history of psychiatric treatment). I loved the characters, especially Tim Daily's Brian and Zoe Saldana's Cassie. They are not perfect or good, or even necessarily provoke much sympathy in the viewer, until the movie develops and you peel many layers.Part of my favorite dialog, which again, I think illustrates a wealth of hidden information (paraphrasing):(her father has died in the somewhat recent past) -...so you weren't close with your dad? -Not in a good way.Nothing more is said about this, but you can see the quiet shock in Brian's face when he understand the meaning.I also enjoyed that this is a movie I could watch again and again because it doesn't rely on shock value to scare the viewer, its creepiness has a good effect on me every time. Oh, and the scene with the doll, hahahaha!