Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour (2008)

0% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
30% of users liked it
(779 ratings)

A teenager discovers that ghosts walk in her old hometown in this family-friendly supernatural mystery. Sarah Landon (Rissa Walters) is a pretty 17-year-old who pays a visit to Pine Valley, CA, the small town where she grew up; when she unexpectedly has car trouble, she finds herself in town for a… More A teenager discovers that ghosts walk in her old hometown in this family-friendly supernatural mystery. Sarah Landon (Rissa Walters) is a pretty 17-year-old who pays a visit to Pine Valley, CA, the small town where she grew up; when she unexpectedly has car trouble, she finds herself in town for a few days rather than an afternoon. Sarah is staying with Mrs. Shaw (Jane Harris), whose late daughter, Megan, was Sarah's best friend when they were kids. Sarah encounters another friend from her high school days, Matt Baker (Dan Comrie), and Sarah learns things have not been happy for Matt's family in recent years. His mother was at the wheel during a car accident that claimed the life of his cousin, and the late boy's father swore revenge shortly before his death. Since then, Matt's older brother has slipped into madness, Matt fears for his future, and some locals believe a malevolent spirit follows the family. Sarah teams up with Matt to find out the truth about what's happening in Mill Valley, and discovers evidence that supernatural forces may well be at work, especially after Megan warns Sarah in a dream about the dangers of playing amateur sleuth. Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour was the first directorial credit for Lisa Comrie; her brother John Comrie wrote the screenplay and co-produced, while three other members of the Comrie family appear in the cast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 20 min.
Directed By: Lisa Comrie
Written By: John Comrie, Lisa Comrie
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Kids & Family

In Theaters: Oct 19, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Sep 9, 2008
Studio: Freestyle Releasing

Critic Reviews

John Anderson, Variety
Beset by bad lighting, limited visual imagination and acting so wooden it might have termites.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
The ear-numbing dialogue explains (and explains) rather than dramatizes, though, and the performances are earnest and flat
Andy Webster, New York Times
The film is sunk by a pervasive stasis, the byproduct not of mood but of the filmmakers' amateurish abilities. If there's one thing Nick and Disney know, it's that youthful entertainment needs to keep moving.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
Landon won't be a household name any time soon...
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
[H]onestly, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo and the gang got into spookier situations than this.
Linda Cook, Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Someone must have greenlit this one without realizing it doesn't have a ghost of a chance.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
...awkward in a high-school-drama-club way...
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
Clumsy, tween-focused thriller wastes potential.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The filmmaking is borderline incompetent -- the acting varies from okay to awful, the cinematography is unpleasantly soft and the tone is badly misjudged.
Jim Ridley, L.A. Weekly
Do-nothing Sarah may be the dullest, most featureless and inactive protagonist in recent movies -- great news for those Scooby-Doo die-hards who never got enough Freddy.
Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com
Either flush with cash or in possession of incriminating photographs of a Freestyle Releasing executive, somehow this family pushed their tween mystery into a theatrical release this weekend, despite making a picture almost completely devoid of polish.