A Haunting at Preston Castle (2014)

Legend has it the old reformitory is haunted by the ghost of Bobby, who was murdered. The institution covered it up by saying his death was from tuberculosis. But he was actually killed by the other boys because Bobby had murdered a beloved staff member who was like a mother to everyone.  Now ghost Bobby hangs around and seeks revenge on anyone who goes into the decaying building.  Because ghosts are dicks who punish people who had nothing to do with their demise.

Liz, home from college after a recent break up, goes out to the lake with her friend Ashley. In an attempt to cheer Liz up, Ashley tells Liz’s high school boyfriend Danny to meet them.  The three hang out for a bit before deciding to go to the abandoned reformitory.  

When Danny questions whether it’s a good idea to go in there, Liz puts on the peer pressure. This is the start of Liz’s downhill character arc. For a reason that I missed or is never explained, Danny has a key to the padlock on the gate. They enter the building and wander around before spreading a sleeping bag out on the floor.  

Liz wants privacy with Danny so Ashley wanders off to make a phone call. The phone won’t work, and she gets bored waiting for them to be done doing whatever in the sleeping bag.  As she tries to make her way back to where they are, she gets lost and hears something in the dark.

While Liz was flirty prior to being alone with Danny, she’s turned into a mean girl. She’s cold, irritated, scoffs at him, insults him, and blames him for Ashely’s disappearance. I was as confused as Danny how she could blame him since she was the one who pressured him into going into the building. But Liz says Danny got them into this mess because he had the key. At one point, she even says, “Don’t do this to me.” Oh Liz, poor sweet delusional crappy Liz who always thinks she’s the victim. I think we know the reason her boyfriend left.  Why do movies make their protagonists so unlikeable?  I kept hoping she’ fall through one of the holes in the floor and die.

Things start making even less sense as Liz goes from repeatedly scoffing at Danny because he thinks there is supernatural stuff going on, to being afraid after seeing a video of Ashley crying because she’s lost.  Also Liz insists they need to keep searching because Ashely has to be on this floor somewhere. No, no she doesn’t. If she’s moving, she may have gone to another floor.

Liz also does a weird turn where she’s angry at Ashely for disappearing and wants to leave her behind. Then refuses to leave because Ashely is her best friend.  If your friend disappears in a huge abandoned facility that has holes in the floors, you may want to do a quick search and then get professional help since  she may be injured.

Also annoying Liz is doing a video journal. So you’re stuck looking at her filming everything, even when it’s inappropriate and she should be putting the camera down. At one point she’s walking down a hallway looking into the camera, and again I kept hoping she’d fall through a hole in the floor. 

Ridiculous dialogue:

Liz - Let’s gets out of here.

Danny. What if she comes down and we’re not here?

Liz - She’ll wait.

This is a cool location

Does anyone really tape their boyfriends photo to their dashboard?

Watching yourself in the camera as you walk down the
hallway in an abandoned building just increases
your changes of falling through a hole in the floor

 They arrived in daylight but now it’s night 

Narcissist video diary of a day with the death ghost

She’s Blair Witching it