Window

A father takes his son to a house he’s bought in the country with a view to fixing up and selling. However, as they work on it, they begin to see things and discover the history of the house…

I love ghost stories. They are my favourite horror films. While many films resort to jump type scares often leading to an overblown visual, special effects laden climax, often the best of them, do things differently. They build the characters well, before the horror aspects begin and rely on a sense of dread building. Most of these types of films don’t go for an overblown ending, but something much more low key and more often than not, have the right ending for the story it is telling, which can often be a more emotional climax than scare laden one.

The Witch In The Window is a 77 minute long film…and one of the best ghost stories I’ve seen for some time.

The film was written and directed by Andy Mitton. Like the best ghost stories, even with the short running time, he gives the characters time to develop. The father, Simon (Alex Draper), buys the house with plans to ‘flip’ it. He brings his son Finn (Charlie Tacker) with him to help, but also to talk with him after he was caught watching things on the internet by his wife (Arija Bareikis). As they work on the house, Simon and Finn talk about things, about what Finn is scared of, while Simon admits sometimes parents lie to protect their children. With very good writing and performances that make you believe in the well thought out relationship.

But that’s all well and good. The bigger question is, does the ghost story work. And that is a resounding yes.

A neighbour tells Simon, eventually, the history of the house and its previous owner Lydia (Carol Stanzione). It would have been easier and perhaps tempting to make it a more ‘horrible’ back story, but that it isn’t is a welcome change indeed.

As director, Mitton builds the scare aspect very well indeed. If you pay attention, we see the ghost before Simon and Finn even knows it is there, adding to the sense of dread which is compunded when the scares really begin. By not relying on jump scares, Mitton has to work harder to make the scares effective and it pays off as they are very scary indeed.

And then there is the final act, which pulls off a clever twist very well indeed, we get to know what the ghost wants and an ending that pays off emotionally. I loved the ending of this film, that combines emotion and heart brilliantly.

I really liked this film a great deal. The acting is good, it’s well written and directed and despite the short running time puts more heart and thought in the film than many bigger budgeted films.

The Witch In The Window is not just one of the best ghost based horror films I’ve seen recently, it’s simply one of the best horror films I’ve watched recently.

Check it out if you can.

Rating: ****1/2 out of 5