The Skeptic (film)
| The Skeptic | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tennyson Bardwell |
| Produced by | Mary-Beth Taylor Tennyson Bardwell Isen Robbins Aimee Schoof |
| Written by | Tennyson Bardwell |
| Starring |
Tim Daly Zoe Saldana Tom Arnold Andrea Roth |
| Music by | Brett Rosenberg |
| Cinematography | Claudio Rocha |
| Edited by | Ann Marie Lizzi |
| Distributed by | IFC Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $6,671 (domestic) |
The Skeptic is a 2009 American suspense thriller film written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell. Starring Tim Daly, Zoe Saldana, and Tom Arnold, and featuring Robert Prosky and Edward Herrmann, it depicts the story of an attorney who inherits a seemingly haunted house, though he does not believe in the supernatural.
Written in the 1980s, the film was shot in upstate New York from late 2005 through 2006. Completed in 2008, it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival before being purchased by IFC Films for airing on their video on demand channel as well as a limited theatrical release. The film received poor reviews and was criticized for its lack of suspense, poor dialogue, and for being reminiscent of 1970s television horror films.
A police officer responds to a 911 call that came from a large home, upon his investigation he comes across an old woman who had apparently died of fright, holding a set of rosary beads. Bryan Beckett (Tim Daly) is an overly analytical lawyer, whose lack of true emotion has caused a rift in his marriage. When he gets word that his old aunt had died, he assumes he inherits her home as a result of being her remaining kin. He makes it clear he does not believe in life after death, or many other superstitions and treats her death and funeral like everyday events. His friend and partner at the law firm Sully (Tom Arnold) has a seizure when they visit the home and warns Bryan not to enter the closet behind the cross. He recovers having no recollection of saying this. Wanting a separation from his wife to "scare her" into accepting his behavior, Bryan decides to spend a few weeks at his aunt's home, while he is there several strange occurrences are ignored by him that might hint at haunting behavior; a chest in the upstairs bedroom falls unaided, a large shrine is found in the closet behind a crucifix, and the house is filled with strange unexplained noises and glimpses of what appears to be a woman.
Bryan learns that the house was willed to an institute that studies in sleep disorders. Upon investigation, the director Koven shows him another department that deals with psychic energy for scientific research. Though he maintains that they do not believe in the paranormal, Bryan decides to contest the will. But the sounds of whispering about an old trunk send him back. After Koven discounts his theories of voices in his house, Bryan goes to his psychiatrist Shepard (Edward Herrmann) who decides that Bryan's stress-induced insomnia is to blame. The visions become more vivid, and Cassie (Zoe Saldana) a psychic specimen of Koven's arrives to scan the house. She comes to several conclusions that Bryan hadn't disclosed, and the strange sound of someone falling down a flight of stairs that only he can hear clearly disturbs him. While going through an old trunk he found in the basement, Bryan and Cassie come across a doll that absolutely terrifies him into an emotional outrage. The next day, he begins to sense recurring memories of his mother abusing him and locking him in the same closet that seems to be the source of the hauntings. Shepard confirms this, and allows Bryan to remember that as a five-year-old, due to the harsh treatment by his mother, he consciously placed toys on the stairs, causing her to fall down them to her death. Shepard and Bryan's father used Bryan's repressed memories to forget about the event entirely and it is this that makes Bryan realize that it is the ghost of his mother haunting the house.
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