Secrets in the Walls is such an oddity of a movie that I don't really know what to make of it. If Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel produced The Ring, it would look something like Secrets in the Walls. The scares are never too scary. No one is ever in any real danger. The entire tone of the film suggests that nothing too terrible will happen, so the audience never worries and the film falls on its face. In the process, Secrets in the Walls fails as a movie that the Lifetime/Hallmark audience would want to watch and also fails to appeal to the Japanese horror crowd as well.
In Secrets in the Walls, Rachel (Jeri Ryan) is a single mom who just got a new job far away from her family's crowded apartment. After her first day on the job, an enthusiastic real estate agent ropes her into taking a tour of a nearby house that just happens to be for sale for a reasonable price. Rachel's older daughter Lizzie (Kay Panabaker) loves the idea of having her own room, but the younger daughter Molly (Peyton List) is a little more wary of the idea. Shortly after moving in, Lizzie starts having night terrors, and Molly starts seeing a girl who no one else can see. Are they still adjusting to their parents' divorce and life in a new house, or is there something supernatural going on?
Secrets in the Walls didn't offend me. I didn't feel like it completely wasted my time or that society was worse off because this film was made. My problem is that I don't understand why it was made. The Lifetime and Hallmark Channel audiences are not the target audiences for horror movies like The Ring, and fans of The Ring do not like their horror watered-down. Who will watch Secrets in the Walls aside from Star Trek: Voyager fans who miss 7 of 9? Perhaps before Secrets in the Walls was made, the people behind Secrets in the Walls should have asked why this movie should be made.
Bonus: There is a scene where the family is knocking down a wall in a basement, and the soundtrack's lyrics are literally “tearing down the walls.” In a movie that was fairly dull, this scene made me laugh pretty hard.
"Secrets in the Walls" is on sale September 20, 2011 and is not rated. Horror. Directed by Christopher Leitch. Written by William Penick. Starring Jeri Ryan, Kay Panabaker, Peyton List.
