| The Haunting of Molly Hartley | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Mickey Liddell |
| Produced by | Jennifer Hilton Jerry P. Jacobs |
| Written by | John Travis Rebecca Sonnenshine |
| Starring | Haley Bennett Chace Crawford Jake Weber |
| Music by | James T. Sale |
| Cinematography | Sharone Meir |
| Editing by | Zene Baker |
| Distributed by | Freestyle Releasing |
| Release date(s) | October 31, 2008 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $13,368,675 (domestic) |
The Haunting of Molly Hartley is a 2008 horror film written by John Travis and Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed by Mickey Liddell.
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The film begins with a teenage girl (Jessica Lowndes) going into the woods to meet her boyfriend. He gives her an early birthday present, but her father shows up and demands that she leave with him. As they drive home she tells him that she will be marrying her boyfriend as soon as she turns eighteen. He breaks down and apologizes to her before crashing their car. Seeing that she is not dead, he kills her with a broken piece of mirror, saying he couldn't let the darkness take her. The film then switches to present day, and Molly's story.
Molly Hartley (Haley Bennett), a 17-year-old girl, is stabbed with scissors in the chest one day after school in the bathroom by her deranged mother (Marin Hinkle) Even though she survives and her wound is healed with only a scar left, she is still haunted in her dreams and hears things because of the frightening experience. Molly lives with her father since her mother is locked up in a mental ward outside the town she recently moved to. Her father (Jake Weber) enrolled Molly in a new school to help with the trauma and start a new life. However, as her 18th birthday approaches, Molly must deal with both the stress of being a new student and with the continuing nightmares she has of her mother's attack. Joseph (Chace Crawford), a student at her new school, attempts to help her. However, Molly begins to display symptoms of the same psychosis that took control of her mother's life, but eventually Molly discovers that her mother and others who share her mother's concerns want her killed in order to save her from a preordained life as a servant to the devil. It's revealed that Molly had died as the result of a miscarriage and her parents made a pact with the devil to save her life. But they would only have her till her 18th birthday, until she belonged to the devil. Dr. Emerson (Nina Siemaszko) tells Molly that she is also to be a servant of the devil. She says Molly can either kill her father to break the pact, or turn over to the devil. She attempts to let her father live and not join the devil by stabbing herself and trying to kill herself. This attempt is in vain because the clock has already struck midnight.
The movie switches to a mental institution, where a doctor is talking to a woman dressed in black, later revealed to be a cold-hearted Molly. It is revealed that Molly's father has now been admitted to the institution, and Molly casually smiles and says she will not speak to him, instead choosing to move on. Molly becomes valedictorian of her high school, and dates Joseph. She is seen leaving her high school graduation with Joseph in a limousine, after being told by Dr. Emerson (disguised as the school guidance counselor) that they'll "see her soon."
The film received mostly negative reviews and currently holds a 28/100 rating on Metacritic, based on 10 reviews, and a 3% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes. Its best review comes from the Toronto Star who says "If you get past the retro Nancy Drew title, this is a worthwhile effort." The worst is from LA Weekly who says "From Freestyle Releasing, the self-service distributor that brought you D-War and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, comes a movie even worse than those two combined."
Originally independently released by Freestyle Releasing, all ancillary rights reverted to 20th Century Fox upon its DVD release on February 24, 2009 via Fox's home video division.
Although a formal soundtrack was never released, and is doubtfully going to be in production, the following songs were played in the movie:
The Haunting of Molly Hartley is a 2008 film that follows a teen who looks to put her troubled past behind her with a fresh start at a new school, where she sparks with one of the most popular students. But can her secrets stay buried, especially as she learns more about the horrific truth that awaits her once she turns 18?
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