Yet another movie that I can't believe wasn't a Hammer production. The fact that it wasn't may explain why it was so bad.
To its credit, the movie looks fantastic.
So, what's the problem here? The movie is beyond boring! It starts as a basic gothic ghost story - we're good so far.
It takes forever to unfold, and I mean the very end of the second act, to give a flashback that reveals the reason for the haunting.
I'll just give this away here, because the movie doesn't deserve to have any secrets kept: our ghost put a curse on the land, several years ago. But why? Well, his new bride was raped by the landlord. Look, there are lots of movies I greatly enjoy that have brutal rape scenes in them - _Irreversible_, _A Serbian Film_, just to name a few - but this one was so out of left field, and so late in the movie, that it ruined the entire movie by being more intense than the film deserved. Let me clarify. I think our ghost's name was Silas; Okay, the cutting off of his hand, and rape of his wife make him into a sympathetic character - yeah, I want him to get revenge. Trouble is, he doesn't go after the people responsible, no, he goes after a girl - Catherine - who has nothing to do with it.
The next problem is with Catherine herself - or more accurately, Stephanie Beacham. Look, she could not act. This wouldn't be so bad, but she is the lead here! If the star of your movie can't act, that's a problem.
So many problems, from beginning to end, not the least of which was a scene where a character repeatedly swings a skeleton! I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. I'd call this a so-bad-it's-good movie, but that rape scene, man... I just can't get past that.