Haunter - film review

Abigail Breslin is excellent in this supernatural chiller

It's a foggy Sunday in 1985, and Lisa (Abigail Breslin, excellent) feels as if her suburban family are sleepwalking towards death. But then she discovers a secret passage in the basement (and receives a visit from a superbly rancid repair man) that gives her a new sense of self.

It’s hard to dislike a film that has so much fun with the idea that for isolated teens, every day is like Sunday. Lisa doesn’t seem to have heard of Morrissey but her musical taste is otherwise impeccable. It’s a shame the modern world intrudes in the second half. Director Vincenzo Natali has absolutely no grip on the present day.