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Claire (Stefanie Estes) had never had a good relationship with her
mother (Shannen Doherty), who was beauty-obsessed and dragged her
from one pageant to the next while giving her hell for every bit of
imperfection, which kids are just prone to. But now that mum's dead,
Claire and her husband Aaron (Zack Ward) decide to move back to Claire's
childhood home ... and Claire feels immediately ill at ease at the house,
especially since she hasn't yet come over the trauma of a stillbirth of
her own, which even caused her to attempt suicide, and even though she's
better now she's still a long way from doing well. Thing is, back when
Claire was a child (and was played by Anna Harr), she had an imaginary
friend, Bethany, who she believed lived in the walls - but now that she's
back home, she thinks Bethany's still there to haunt her. This eventually
leads to her hurting herself quite violently, and of course everyone else
thinks it was just another (failed) attempt of Claire to take her life -
but then her husband and her psychiatrist (Tom Green) find out there's
something much more sinister and much more dangerous at work ... Fan
favourite Felissa Rose has a cameo as a realtor. Bethany
is a pleasently clever horror thriller of the haunted house variety that
really manages to keep the audience guessing till the very end, relying
heavily on a general feel, creepy setpieces and well-placed shocks rather
than just spoon-feeding the viewer another ghost story with predictable
ending. That's all thanks to a intelligent and nicely flowing script, a
very compact directorial effort by James Cullen Bressack who seems to
instinctively know when to hold back and when to go all-out to keep one on
the edge of one's seat, and of course great central performances. Definitely
worth a look!
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