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Rob is a
young writer who wants nothing more than to
get one of his books published. He moves into a house
where several other writers spend their days, working
on new stories. At first it seems like a great idea,
but he soon meets Valerie - a ghost who's trapped inside
the house by a demon. But how come he's the only one
who can see her, and will he be able to set her free?
Mick Garris didn't impress me with Chocolate, nor with
Desperation, nor with Riding The Bullet, nor with
Sleepwalkers - and he didn't break the pattern with
this mediocre episode. In fact, I don't think any of
his horror movies have ever been above average, except
for perhaps "The Stand". His TV-version of The Shining
was ridiculously flat compared to the original,
and Sleepwalkers was just an atrocity. But enough of
bashing, my point is, Mick has in the past made
mediocre movies out of bestselling Stephen King novels
and this time he's tried to bring a Cliver Barker tale
to life - something which apparently was a bit
overwhelming for him as, while the story is pretty
damn great, the execution is lacklustre.
Valerie On The Stairs starts out as your standard ghost
story. However, the great atmosphere and a couple of
very effective (but generic) scares led me to believe
that this would be a hugely entertaining horror flick.
Unfortunately, it doesn't take long before Tony Todd
shows up as a demon which completely ruined the
suspense. Tony Todd is a great actor but it seems as
if his range is very limited as we've seen him like
this several times before. Anyway, that's not my point.
My point is that while this could have been a quite
entertaining Barker flick, even with a generic demon
in it, but the movie quickly starts to drag and make
little to no sense.
First we have the strange flashbacks that Rob keeps
having that are never explained - so why bother throwing
them in there if they never intended on explaining
them? It just seemed odd to me. Then we have the very
unfulfilling and rushed ending which feels both corny
and standard. I don't want to seem to negative though
as Valerie On The Stairs is a decent film - but I just
want to make clear that this is so very average.
Ultimately, it's watchable, but it should have been so
much more than that. Once again Mick Garris has
provided us with a decent, but overall underwhelming
horror flick based on a book by a great author. Since
I haven't read the book, it's difficult for me to
tell whether the movie fell flat due to the book or
the execution - but my guess is the execution. Worth
a watch I guess, but not a must.
A slashed throat, a spine ripped out and some more.
Yawn! Generic as hell - just like the movie. It feels
old and used up, and while it does the trick and feels
competently made, it's just not that exciting anymore.
What do you get when you mix Boogeyman with Hellraiser?
Well, apparently you get Valerie On The Stairs - but
shouldn't it have been more entertaining than this?
You're right, it should have! A mediocre episode which
failed to impress me.
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