The Haunting of Molly Hartley

Rating PG13 Formats DVD Genre horror Starring Haley Bennett, Jake Weber, Chace Crawford, Shannon Marie Woodward, Annalynne McCord Directed by Mickey Liddell Publisher 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

With a cast of fresh-faced young actors, the movie The Haunting of Molly Hartley follows a young girl through the few days leading up to her 18th birthday.  With Molly entering adult hood her otherwise sane mother stabs her in the chest with a pair of scissors. Now, having survived the life-altering tragedy, Molly moves with her father to an upscale, New England style community, which is all too eager to get to know their new neighbors. Molly is quickly introduced to an awkwardly nice bible-thumping oddball, an overly interested good-looking guy, his way-to-bitchy-for real life girlfriend, and develops somewhat of a friendship with a rebel-with- her-own-problems party girl. As Molly tries to live a normal life and put the past behind her, she is constantly haunted by piercing headaches, whispering voices, and hallucinations all relating to her mother's fear that Molly will be filled with evil on her birthday. Soon Molly begins to fear her mother’s idea herself.  This film will certainly make you jump but being scared stiff in unlikely.  The story will keep you intrigued but the end will leave much to be desired. And although you will be glued to the screen with wide eyes, you can’t help but feel that something is missing. 

As soon as the movie begins so start the questions.  The director cunningly only gives small pieces of the story at a time creating a fear of which character to trust.  Is it the god-fearing eccentric mother, who feels ending the life of her daughter is what is best in order to save her child’s soul?  Or could the villain be the young Molly Hartley, with the piercing headaches and eerie voices possessing her? The guessing game is short lived however. Through forced dialog and ridiculously cavalier explanations the movie’s plot is laid out. At one point Molly’s father, takes his daughter to see a doctor after she suffers from hallucinations and hearing voices.  While in the doctor’s office the doctor finds a tumor, which explains Molly’s episodes.  Everyone in the film exhales in relief, the doctor saying, “It’s just a pesky brain tumor.”  With that said, Molly is relieved she is not crazy and the film continues on.  Many of the scenes in the film involve Molly being attacked by her mother. Of course most of these attacks are nothing more than hallucinations. There is a scene when her mother gets into the house cornering Molly. By this point one is certain this is nothing more than another dream sequence, but listen carefully because quickly forced in the dialog Molly’s mother says, “ The nurse let me out because she believed I was telling the truth.”  Most of the plotline is served to the audience through these unnatural dialog sequences, including an entire back-story, which is given to us between Molly and her mother’s struggle.

So, whatever happened to Rosemary’s baby?  The answer to that question is thoroughly answered in the hour and forty- something minutes which complete the movie The Haunting of Molly Hartley.  With an American Pie ending which completely changes the feel of the movie, The Haunting of Molly Hartley ends with Molly speaking at her high school graduation, looking the best she has looked in the entire film, all her peers cheering, her hot new boyfriend on her arm, and the viewer without a clear understanding of what the problem was in the first place.  The Haunting of Molly Hartley is entertaining but disappointing.  The movie could have used more depth to its characters and more thought in its storyline.  The film also lacked horror and could have really scared the audiences with more thought in its scare tactics instead of relying on loud noises, like a knock on the door.  After viewing the movie I feel The Haunting of Molly Hartley was not very haunting at all, which is a shame because the story has so much potential but the film missed the mark.