Monday, October 15, 2012

The Haunting of Amelia (aka The Other Side of the Tracks)



(2008) **

Dysthymic Josh works in a pizza joint that never has any customers. It has been 10 years since his car was struck by a train instantly killing his girlfriend and his best friend’s girlfriend. When he is not working he spends his time walking along the train tracks where the accident took place. One day a new waitress, Amelia, is hired towork in the pizza place. Josh is startled to find that Amelia is the spitting image of his girlfriend. Meanwhile, his best friend Rusty, who moved away after the accident, returns to town in an effort to reconnect with Josh and convince him to go to their 10 year high school reunion. Both Rusty and Amelia want Josh to move on with his life rather than wither away in Nowheresville. Soon Josh begins having visions of his deceased girlfriend.


The Haunting of Amelia is a quiet little story that is more drama than horror, although some horror gets shoe-horned in from time to time. The film is really an examination of unresolved grief and the impact that sudden loss can have on an individual. Not a bad story but not a “horror” movie. It would have worked better as a 30-minute anthology segment.

5 comments:

AC said...

sounds relatively interesting for a ** movie. was the low rating based on its poor horror quotient?

Catfreeek said...

Drives me crazy when they promote a movie as one thing and its really another. The worst are ones slated as comedy or dark comedy and you find out they are just depressing dramas with the barest of comedy undertone.

Octopunk said...

This sounds so lackluster I'm looking to minor plot points for something to connect to...

I know, maybe the pizza shop should have a two-for-one sale, or free sodas with a large?

DKC said...

Sounds completely skip-able!

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Sounds like one giant yawn-fest. The picture of the sad guy certainly doesn't help the cause either.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...