I was a bit of a Sceptic watching the Skeptic. Mainly because it had Tom Arnold in it. Sorry I had to get that gag out of the way. According to IMDB, this film is also called The Haunting of Bryan Becket but The Skeptic sounds better.
The story tells of Bryan Becket who at the beginning of the film finds out that his aunt has died. first reaction when he finds out his aunt died was that he inherits the house thus making him instantly unlikeable. It’s hard to believe that he a) is married and b) has a child. After the funeral he and Tom Arnold go and visit the house and he decides that due to his marriage troubles he is going to stay and sort things out.
When Sully is having what seems like a fit, at first I thought he was pretending to have a fit but in a good twist he was actually unwell. Normally this would have been a joke but it seemed to be the first indication that this wasn’t going to be your typical middle of the road movie.
When he realises that he doesn’t own the house he goes to some institute that his aunt left the house to and after a bit of waffle we find out that his aunt believes that the house is haunted. I like that he is threatening to contest the will believing that the sleep lab trying to dupe an old woman and manipulate her but in reality it is Bryan that is doing it.
What’s quite interesting is that it doesn’t go weird straight away but takes the time to build things up. The bit where Tom Arnold makes Bryan jump was quite a shocking moment. By the halfway point the shocks start to come more frequently before stopping again. Tom Arnold is easily the best thing in this (never thought I would admit that). Whenever he was on screen I was enjoying the movie but whenever he wasn’t on then I started to lose interest.
The death of Bryan’s mother is used as a reason why Bryan is so sceptic. The wife and kid are bought back in after a while and it seems like they are bought it because the writer needs something fresh to keep the story going.
Zoe Saladna (Cassie) is probably the next big name in this after Arnold. She is perhaps best know for appearing the most recent Star Trek movies. She starts off in the institute as a patient who seems a bit volatile and then disappears for a while before returning by forcing her way into the house. It’s at this point it seems to go even slower and its at this point that I started to give up as it seemed to go from being something spooky to just an episode of Dr Phil or something like that. There’s an awful lot of shouting and screaming from other rooms throughout this film. Robert Prosky also appears as Father Wymond and Prosky has one of those faces that you instantly recognise. He has played roles in Mrs Doubtfire (1993), Miracle of 34th Street (1995) and Gremlins 2 (1990). He died shortly after this film was finished and it’s a perfectly fine performance and he does get some good scenes.
The film picks up in the final act when Bryan goes back in the house thinking that Cassie is in there. The film ends with him falling down the stairs looking into a room that seem to lead to a place that made him smile then it ends. It’s definitely a strange movie and ends all of a sudden. It’s a film that has its moments and its not the worse film that I have seen but I cant deny that it wasn’t what I was expecting.
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