Lovely Molly (2011) starring Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden, Field Blauvelt directed by Eduardo Sánchez Movie Review

Lovely Molly (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Gretchen Lodge and Johnny Lewis in Lovely Molly (2011)

Molly want a Crack Up

Having just got married Molly (Gretchen Lodge) and Tim (Johnny Lewis) end up moving in to her late father's home as money is tight. But with Tim a long distance truck driver it leaves Molly frequently home alone which is not a good thing as the house starts to freak her out, leading to her dealing with the past when she was abused. As the noises and doors seemingly opening on their own increase in frequency Molly starts to lose it, becoming increasingly convinced that something in the house is after her leading to her trying to catch it on her video camera and then turning to violence when she can't cope.

The warning signs for me were there right from the start with an opening scene of a messed up Molly talking to her home video camera before then holding a knife to her throat. It wasn't the knife thing which was the warning sign but the whole home made video thing as so few of these movies work. Now in fairness "Lovely Molly" is a mix of homemade style footage combined with the more traditional although low budget looking original. But it seems that director Eduardo Sánchez who made his directional debut with "The Blair Witch Project" can't let go of the gimmick.

Now in truth "Lovely Molly" is a simple movie as it is all about Molly's descent in to madness having moved in to the house where she suffered abuse as a child, something which is insinuated at rather than actually made 100% clear. As such with the various creepy things going on such as a door violently rattling we don't know whether it is really happening or Molly's mind playing tricks on her. As such a big chunk of "Lovely Molly" works on the fear factor of things which go bump in the night to try and scare the audience which in truth I don't mind as the sudden burst of noise to interrupt silence has worked more to scare me than some act of violence.

But the trouble with "Lovely Molly" is that Sánchez tries to elevate this simple horror story into something else but all it does is detract from the movies simple pleasure. Shots filmed on a home camera, scenes of Molly sitting at her table smoking and looking cheesed off do little other than make it feel drawn out.

What this all boils down to is that "Lovely Molly" could have been an okay horror movie which whilst retreading familiar ground did it well. But unfortunately director Eduardo Sánchez's meandering styling and pacing lets it down and stops it from really working.


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