The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Saw 'The Haunting of Helena', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'The Haunting of Helena' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Haunting of Helena' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.'The Haunting of Helena' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and some of the acting in support was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough. Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The two leads' acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

It's not a bad film. It's got some decent direction and some well-constructed scenes, even if it's got nothing new to add to the genre. However, the acting from the lead is so stilted and wooden that it undermines the entire movie. I'd have given it a watchable 5 apart from that.

As the film played and the first 15 minutes unfolded, I was pretty confused and didn't know what to think. The nice opening cinematography, showing the film title turning into the space under a cupboard was pretty slick and Hollywood-like, but the lighting and music weren't... So I thought "here comes another mediocre film, average and below..." Boy, was I wrong.On one hand, many scenes and shots make you face-palm in frustration, thinking "wow... really?!". For instance, a scene where during a car crash a ghostly figure is visible at the back seat for a split second, or one where the closet creaks and opens in the middle of the night... Sounds familiar? That's because we've seen the exact scenes in at least ten other films. In addition, the music, while not half bad, simply doesn't fit the scenes... It's hard for me to explain as I'm not a musician or a film-maker, but sometimes the music was intense and suspense-like while the scene was anything but.Which brings me to my final negative criticism - Sabrina Jolie Perez as little Helena. In the passed decade, us Horror fans have had the pleasure of seeing amazing and professional child actors and actresses playing their roles perfectly (see Case 39 and Mama for example). Perez simply doesn't match that level, and her mediocrity in comparison to others is really blunt and obvious. I realize this was her first role and she was young and all, but having witnessed some amazing acting from younger actresses, I couldn't help but feeling her acting destroyed my suspense of disbelief and the overall experience of the film. Sorry... I hope to see her getting more chances to improve this impression.And so, we get to the good parts of the film, and I'd like to start by saying they don't cancel out the aforementioned criticism, but they sure do make it irrelevant. The story was absolutely incredible, almost perfect! Taking the well known Tooth Fairy urban legend and turning it into a dark tale of murder and haunting was done just the way it should have been! Christian Bisceglia has earned my utmost respect for this profound writing. The way the story is presented and how it unfolds is less impressive, and I felt it didn't do the original ideas justice, but the amazing twist, the shocking ending and the heartbreaking final scene left me in awe.While the rest of the film isn't worth more than a 5 in my opinion, the story deserves an honest 10, so I rate The Haunting of Helena 8, and say once again what I've said countless times: NEVER trust the raters and reviewers of IMDb. At the time I wrote this review the film was rated 4.7, which is no less than an outrage and travesty of justice. This is what made me rate it 8 instead of 7. A Haunting Ghost Story using barely any frightening ghost shots and jump-scares, with an excellent amazingly written story, gets rated like another poorly made torture porn? Not on my watch. Give this one a chance, you'll be pleasantly and horrifically surprised.

Okay...while I will not say this not the best movie I've ever seen...I will say it was at least scary...in a few parts. I know there is NO such thing as a happy ending as far as horror movies go...but damn, this ending sucked. I'm used to a huge shocker at the end...or the crazed villain or monster still being alive after the end of the movie...but wow...this one takes the cake.The movie wasn't too hard to follow and the acting was better than I'd hoped...given this production company was one I'd not heard of before...AND the whole film was made in Italy...but as far as recommending it to someone to watch....eh...I just don't think so...sorry guys.