All Posters USA All Posters UK

5¼ Pies

Reviewed by Limey

Plot Summary

When a family moves to a new home in the country, the two young daughters start experiencing strange events that are linked to the mysterious disappearance of the landlady's own daughter thirty years previously.

Review

I am starting to think that some part of my subconscious is deliberately choosing generally unpopular films as my own personal favourites and has in fact been doing so ever since I was a child. It is the only explanation why so many hated movies have received either high scores or favourable comments in my reviews thus far and why my original copy of this poorly received Disney flick has been worn out through repeat viewings these last eighteen years.

Actually, that is not quite true. In case of this specific movie there is another possible explanation, which is that at the time of its release Disney and the movie going public were completely out of step with each other. Disney produced several films of this sort around the same time that were equally panned. None that I have seen are actually bad films; they just arrived at the wrong time.

Quotes:

Mrs. Aylwood: Sometimes there seems to be something out there. Sometimes I hear someone, whispering in the wind.

Spook Factor: ½ Pie

If only I were writing this as a child; it would have received at least one extra slice. It always successfully gave me the willies. Frankly, it still kind of does, partly because of my memories, but mostly because it is genuinely creepy.

Antagonist: ½ Pie

There really is no clear cut villain in this one - it is more a fear of the unknown; what is the woods, who is haunting my family, what happened to my daughter, etc. You could argue that Karen's friends were the villains, but the score would remain the same either way.

Story: ½ Pie

Generally simplistic but in a good way; it doesn't get bogged down with unnecessary details. I do like that it takes the time to show the different ways in which Karen's disappearance has affected those that knew her.

Acting: ½ Pie

There seems to be a pattern emerging with the scores. The acting was a truly mixed bag, with some of the cast giving surprisingly strong performances while others played it in not just one note but occasionally the completely wrong note.

Directing: ½ Pie

As seems to be the standard for the film, the directing certainly did its job but nothing really stands out as special, as proven by the fact that despite how many times I have seen the film, I cannot remember what the camera was doing in a single scene.

Soundtrack: ½ Pie

Effective but again not outstanding; it does its job while the film is on and then slips your memory before the disc is back in its case.

Special Effects: ½ Pie

The few effects called for – such as a ghostly face in the mirror, flashes of light, etc. – are pulled off well, but it is hard to believe that that were even remotely challenging for whoever was in charge of realising them.

Gore: ½ Pie

None, but my policy has always been to split the pie halfway when the film in question simply isn't about blood and guts; only bad gore deserves a bad score.

Replay, Rewatch, Rewind: ¾ Pie

Woohoo! Finally, we have broken the streak. It would have been a complete pie if this was just about whether I will be watching it again someday, but I do genuinely think that most other people will check it out more than once.

Pros

To an extent, everything - there is no key weakness; the problem is just that…

Cons

…when looked at individually like this, everything is decidedly average.

Final Word

I love this movie and felt terrible when deciding on the scores knowing that it would come out at such a low total. It may just be childhood memories, but I feel that the whole does come together to deliver far more than each individual aspect of the production would suggest.

Regardless of my feelings or the score, do check it out, as this and many other Disney movies released around the same time deserve to be re-evaluated – you may be surprised to find how many good movies you have been missing out on.

Do you sense things?