The Attic (2007)

16% of users liked it
(681 ratings)

John Savage and Mary Catherine Stewart star in Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert's foreboding tale of a mysterious Victorian home, and one particularly vengeful doppelganger. Shortly after moving into a sprawling Victorian home with her controlling father (Savage) and former beauty-queen mother… More John Savage and Mary Catherine Stewart star in Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert's foreboding tale of a mysterious Victorian home, and one particularly vengeful doppelganger. Shortly after moving into a sprawling Victorian home with her controlling father (Savage) and former beauty-queen mother Stewart), frightened teen Emma (Elisabeth Moss) begins seeing ghastly visions of her deceased twin sister. As the visions become increasingly vivid Emma begins to wonder if she is slowly going insane, eventually confiding her dark secret in her mentally handicapped older brother Frankie (Tom Malloy). When Frankie proves unable to comprehend the true depth of his sister's fear, Emma gradually begins to suspect that her parents have begun practicing a diabolical form of Wicca in order to resurrect their deceased child. Now the only one who will listen to Emma is kindly local police detective John Trevor (Jason Lewis, yet while the attic of the her picturesque Victorian home may finally provide an answer to all of Emma's questions, it could also prove the very place she meets a grim demise. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Mary Lambert
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

On DVD: Jan 15, 2008

Critic Reviews

Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique
Trying to lend visual style to this kind of material is a bit like performing surgery on a mangled corpse: the effort merely further mutilates an already dead body.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dr Blood

It's hard to believe that "The Attic" is by the same director who made "Pet Sematary" even though it is all over the poster and DVD sleeve. It's awful! Not only is it one of the most badly acted, badly scripted and generally lacklustre horror films that… More
It's hard to believe that "The Attic" is by the same director who made "Pet Sematary" even though it is all over the poster and DVD sleeve. It's awful! Not only is it one of the most badly acted, badly scripted and generally lacklustre horror films that I've ever watched but the stupid ending that was tagged on to make it a bit more supernatural ruined it completely. The predictable story is all about Elisabeth Moss' character, Emma Callan, slowly descending into madness because she believes that her twin sister, Beth, is haunting her. The trouble is that she doesn't do the mad thing all that well and just ends up being a very poor imitation of Angela Bettis. This same story has been done many times over the years, from "The Man Who Haunted Himself" to "The Machinist", and they are all better than this. There is just nothing new here for anybody. It all looks good though as it was either shot on film or a high quality digital camera with one of those lenses that makes it look like film. As usual, it isn't particularly spooky or scary. Apart from one scene there isn't much gore to speak of either and there aren't even any good nudie bits. Even the bath scene right at the start is disappointing although it has more tension and suspense than anything in the rest of the film. I think we already have a contender here for the worst horror film of 2008 and it's still only the second week of January!
Jacob P

A very interesting story\plot, but very slow-paced with some bad acting.