''The Haunting of Molly Hartley'' is a 2008 American

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written by John Travis and Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed by Mickey Liddell. The film, starring

Haley Bennett Haley Loraine Keeling (born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Haley Bennett, is an American actress. She made her film debut in the romantic comedy '' Music and Lyrics'' (2007) and has since appeared in films such as '' The Equalizer'' ( ...

Chace Crawford Christopher Chace Crawford (born July 18, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his television portrayals of Nate Archibald on The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012), and of The Deep in Amazon Prime Video original series ...

AnnaLynne McCord AnnaLynne McCord (born July 16, 1987) is an American actress, activist, and model. Known for playing vixen-type roles, McCord first gained prominence in 2007 as the scheming Eden Lord on the FX television series ''Nip/Tuck'', and as the pampe ...

, and

Jake Weber Jake T. Weber (born 12 March 1963) is an English actor, known in film for his role as Michael in '' Dawn of the Dead'' and for his role as Drew in '' Meet Joe Black''. On television, he is best-known for playing Joe DuBois, the sleep-deprived ...

, was a critical failure but a mild commercial success.

Plot

The film begins with a teenage girl, Laurel Miller (

Jessica Lowndes Jessica Lowndes (; born November 8, 1988) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Adrianna Tate-Duncan on The CW teen drama series '' 90210,'' appearing in several Hallmark Channel movies, and the 2020 Lifetime Chan ...

), going into the woods to meet her boyfriend Michael (

Randy Wayne Randy Wayne Frederick (born August 7, 1981) is an Americans, American actor. Life and career Wayne was born and raised in Moore, Oklahoma. He attended Moore High School (Oklahoma), Moore High School and Campbellsville University. He appeared ...

). He gives her an early birthday present, but her father (

Jamie McShane Jamie McShane is an American actor best known for his roles on ''Sons of Anarchy'', ''Southland'', and ''Bloodline'', and as Agent Jackson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films ''Thor'' (2011) and '' The Avengers'' (2012). In 2021, he appe ...

) shows up and demands that she leave with him. As they drive home, Laurel tells him that she will be marrying Michael as soon as she turns eighteen. He breaks down and apologizes to her, telling her he can't let her turn 18, then purposely crashes 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. In present day, 17-year-old Molly Hartley (

) is stabbed in the chest by her deranged mother Jane (

Marin Hinkle Marin Elizabeth Hinkle (born March 23, 1966) is an American actress. Among many television and movie roles, she is best known for playing Judy Brooks on the ABC television drama ''Once and Again'', Judith Harper-Melnick on the CBS sitcom ''Two ...

) with a pair of scissors. Although she survives, she is haunted in her dreams by the experience. She lives with her father Robert (

), and her mother is locked up in a mental ward. Her father enrolls Molly in a new school to help with the trauma and start a new life. However, as her eighteenth birthday approaches, Molly has continuing nightmares of her mother's attack. Joseph Young (

), one of her classmates, attempts to help her; however, she begins to display symptoms of the same psychosis that took control of her mother's life. Molly attends a party at Joseph's house, where his jealous ex-girlfriend tries to attack her. She breaks the girl's arm and leaves the party. She has another hallucination of her mother attacking her and has a panic attack. The next morning she apologizes to Joseph's ex, who says she knows what Molly is. At home, Molly is cornered by her mother and discovers that she and others want to kill her in order to save her from a preordained life as a servant to

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

. It is revealed that Molly had died as the result of a miscarriage and her parents made a

pact with the Devil A deal with the Devil (also called a Faustian bargain or Mephistophelian bargain) is a cultural motif exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, as well as being elemental to many Christian traditions. According to t ...

to save her life. The terms of the agreement were such that the Hartleys would only have Molly until her eighteenth birthday, then she would belong to the Devil. After Jane is accidentally killed, and upon knocking her father out, Molly runs to seek salvation by accepting a baptism by Alexis, who tries to drown her. Alexis accidentally is knocked on her head, which kills her and Molly turns to Joseph for help, only to discover that he is one of them and has set her up. Dr. Emerson (

Nina Siemaszko Antonina Jadwiga Siemaszko (born July 14, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her film roles in ''Little Noises'' (1992), ''The Saint of Fort Washington'' (1993), and for her role as Eleanor Bartlet in ''The West Wing'' (2001–2006). B ...

) arrives at Joseph's house and 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 submit. She tries to let her father live and avoid her fate by attempting suicide with a kitchen knife. This attempt is in vain because the clock has already struck midnight. The film switches to a mental institution, where a doctor is talking to a woman dressed in black, later revealed to be a cold-hearted Molly. Molly's father has now been admitted to the institution; Molly smiles and says she will not speak to him, choosing to move on. She 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."

Cast

as Molly Hartley *

as Robert Hartley *

as Joseph Young *

Shannon Woodward Shannon Woodward (born December 17, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010–2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series ''Westworld'' (2016 ...

as Leah *

Shanna Collins Shanna Dophalene Collins is an American actress. She played Amber on the first season of the ABC Family original series, ''Wildfire''. Collins graduated from Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas. Collins played Laurie Miller o ...

as Alexis White *

as Suzie Woods *

as Jane Hartley *

as Dr. Amelia Emerson *

Josh Stewart Joshua Regnall Stewart (born February 6, 1977) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Holt McLaren in the FX TV series ''Dirt'' and as Detective William LaMontagne, Jr., on the CBS series ''Criminal Minds''. He was also cast as ...

as Mr. Draper *

as Laurel Miller *

as Michael *

as Mr. Miller *

Ron Canada Ronald Ellis Canada (born May 3, 1949) is an American actor with a specialty in portraying judges and detectives. He is best known for '' One on One'' (2001–2004), ''The Shield'' (2003–2004), and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Career Following ...

as Mr. Bennett * Kevin Cooney as Dr. Donaldson * Ross Thomas as Jock *

Charles Chun Charles Chun (born February 28, 1967) is an American actor who has appeared in television shows such as ''Criminal Minds, Scrubs'', ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' and '' How I Met Your Mother''. He has ...

as Doctor *

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...

as Mr. Young

Release

Box office

''The Haunting of Molly Hartley'' opened theatrically on October 31, 2008, in 2,652 venues, earning $5,423,315 in its opening weekend, ranking number five and second among the weekend's new releases. The film ended its run on February 5, 2009, having grossed $13,559,812 in the domestic box office and $1,858,937 overseas for a worldwide total of $15,418,749. Based on an estimated $5 million budget, the film was a minor box office success.

Critical reception

The film was widely panned and currently holds a 28/100 rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 10 reviews and a 3% "Rotten" score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 40 reviews, with the site's critical consensus being "''The Haunting of Molly Hartley'' is a rather lifeless horror endeavor, with a pedestrian plot and few scares." Its best review came from the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' which said "If you get past the retro

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

title, this is a worthwhile effort." The ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' wrote "From Freestyle Releasing, the self-service distributor that brought you ''

D-War ''D-War'' (Korean: 디워, released in North America as ''Dragon Wars: D-War''), is a 2007 South Korean action-adventure fantasy film written and directed by Shim Hyung-rae, and starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, and Elizabeth ...

'' and '' In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale'', comes a movie even worse than those two combined." Frank Scheck for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called the film "a teen-oriented horror opus that wouldn't pass muster on

the CW network ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

." Keith Phipps for ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the film a D+ and said "It's a horror film better suited for skittish cats than humans."

Home media

Originally independently released by

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

, all ancillary rights reverted to

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

upon its DVD release on February 24, 2009, via Fox's home video division, since Fox holds rights to release Freestyle films on DVD. The film was released in Mexico on June 4, 2010, via Quality Films. The UK DVD was released on June 14, 2010.

Soundtrack

Although a formal soundtrack was never released, the following songs were used in the film: * "Preparedness" by

The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee (stylized in all lowercase) is an American indie pop musical duo from Los Angeles, consisting of Inara George ("the bird") and Greg Kurstin ("the bee"). Kurstin is a seven-time Grammy Award–winning producer and multi- ...

* "I Don't Wanna" by Anna Waronker * "Rain" by

Bishop Allen Bishop Allen is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, United States. The band's core members are Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators. The ...

* "Post Man" by The Sammies * "17" by

X-Press 2 X-Press 2 are an English electronic dance music duo. The members are DJ Diesel (Darren House) and DJ Rocky (Darren Rock). Ashley Beedle left to pursue solo projects in 2009. They were DJ Award winners in 2002 and Ivor Novello winners in 20 ...

* "Falling Out" by The Sammies * "U a Freak (Nasty Girl)" by

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), known professionally as Chingy, is an American rapper. Chingy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began rapping in his late teens. He toured as an opening act with Nelly in the summer of 2002 and then ...

* "Mad Scientist" by

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

* "Untouched and Intact" by

The Honorary Title The Honorary Title was an American alternative rock, alternative indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, United States. The band released their first self-titled Extended play, EP "The Honorary Title" in 2003 and then their fi ...

* "Overwhelmed" by Keren DeBerg

Sequel

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, '' The Exorcism of Molly Hartley'', was released

direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on October 9, 2015. The film, directed by Steven R. Monroe, stars

Sarah Lind Sarah Lind (born July 22, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring roles on the television series '' Mentors'', '' Edgemont'' and ''True Justice''. Life and career Lind was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. Lind's first major role ...

as Molly with a supporting cast of

Devon Sawa Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Sawa began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including '' Little Giants'', ''Casper'', '' Now and Then'', '' Wild America'', ''Idle Hands'', a ...

Gina Holden Gina Holden (born March 17, 1975) is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for her roles as Coreen Fennel in '' Blood Ties'', Dale Arden in '' Flash Gordon'', and Shea Allen in ''Harper's Island''. Early life Holden was born in the small to ...

, and

Jon Cor Jon Cor (born November 17, 1984) is a Canadian actor and author, best known for playing Hodge Starkweather in '' Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments,'' and Brick in '' Total Drama: Revenge of the Island''. Early life Cor studied theatre arts ...

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, which arrives on Digital HD October 9
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References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haunting Of Molly Hartley, The 2008 films 2008 horror films 2000s horror thriller films 2008 independent films 2000s psychological horror films 2008 psychological thriller films 2000s supernatural films 2000s teen horror films American horror thriller films American independent films American psychological horror films American psychological thriller films American supernatural horror films American supernatural thriller films American teen horror films Films set in the 1990s Films shot in Los Angeles Religious horror films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films