Penance Lane

...stayed for Scout Taylor Compton. If Scout is in a movie then it's worth at least a 5.

Having said that, that's as far as I can go for this one. The plot is weak and most of the acting is bland. It was more action than it was horror and that would be okay if the action was put together well but it wasn't.

The ending manages to pick up and improve just a little bit but it never really manages to find its footing and that's unfortunate because there is something decent hidden in this mess.

I didn't feel like it was a complete waste of time, but it didn't leave me satisfied either.

Very low budget. Maybe if someone told me they made this "home movie" with no acting/filmmaking lessons I'd be impressed. Storyline was very basic and incomplete, like seriously wtf is going on. Horrible acting. It's just bad. Nice camera or whatever made it look -with a quick glance- like it should fit in with the high budget crowd.

Oh my God, who thought up this tripe? First scene, gang breaks into house, it seems haunted. It starts off okay. Second scene a man comes into town to fix up the house, meets and helps a mum and daughter, the film's seems to be going okay. Strange things happen in the house, film seems to be getting slightly better. Another night in the house, you find out what caused the noise, film goes down hill at a hundred miles an hour. From there the story stays okay but the execution is dreadful, once the storyline comes into play, it was hard to watch because it was badly done. All in all, the film was cheaply made, usually that doesn't bother me but when it is acted by amateurs and it shows, it spoils the film. The only good thing were the mum and daughter were nice to look at.

What starts as a good premise and makes you think you're in for a good ghost/haunted house with a twist, takes a wrong turn in the middle towards ridiculousness and cliché galore. The story makes absolutely no sense at all and the worst of it, is not even mildly entertaining. The good reviews must be fake or written by 12 year old kids.

There are a few good things that happen in Penance Lane, a plot that develops, good cast, acting but the lack of budget will make a mark in the end.

This is definitely not something to recommend even for the average horror fan, because it is a step lower than your usual, not quite entertaining but does has a story to it, and it doesn't reveal itself from the very start. So, as the plot thickens you get to watch a movie, one that grows right in front of your eyes, but as expected, shortly after it becomes a clichee. Now, all in all I would say this is a fair effort, from the actors, to the execution, but only as an early production of such kind, because as I said before, it is not something I would tell others about.

I rated it a 4 because I strongly believe it is the best it could do regarding the budget, I do admire the way Penance Lane developed, but it is what it is. There are plenty of other better indie productions our there, so you decide what you going to watch next.

Cheers!