As modern horror movies go, A Savannah Haunting is above average,. Although as modern horror movies go, average isn't the highest bar.
The action doesn't rely only on the jump scare the way so many horror movies do. There is a lot of psychological horror too, which certainly makes it more interesting. There are of course similarities to other popular movies, such as the various "haunted doll" movies. In particular it borrows major plot points from The Shining and Psycho. In my opinion the movie navigates this quite well, even if it isn't entirely original. I was particularly impressed with the way aspects of The Shining were incorporated.
(Here are the spoilers) Popular horror movies are big on misdirection and plot twists. Those are understandable and usually fun. However, when the advertising intentionally tells you something that is false, that is going too far. The big "twist" leaves you wondering why they actually moved to Savannah since the reason given in the plot summary is wrong. The movie does answer it, but you have been tricked into believing that explanation was just an excuse to avoid talking about a painful memory. When you go back and think about all that happened in the movie you find that the filmmakers actually navigated the twist extremely well and you are left wondering exactly what was real and what wasn't. If only the plot summary the filmmakers provided wasn't false.
The action doesn't rely only on the jump scare the way so many horror movies do. There is a lot of psychological horror too, which certainly makes it more interesting. There are of course similarities to other popular movies, such as the various "haunted doll" movies. In particular it borrows major plot points from The Shining and Psycho. In my opinion the movie navigates this quite well, even if it isn't entirely original. I was particularly impressed with the way aspects of The Shining were incorporated.
(Here are the spoilers) Popular horror movies are big on misdirection and plot twists. Those are understandable and usually fun. However, when the advertising intentionally tells you something that is false, that is going too far. The big "twist" leaves you wondering why they actually moved to Savannah since the reason given in the plot summary is wrong. The movie does answer it, but you have been tricked into believing that explanation was just an excuse to avoid talking about a painful memory. When you go back and think about all that happened in the movie you find that the filmmakers actually navigated the twist extremely well and you are left wondering exactly what was real and what wasn't. If only the plot summary the filmmakers provided wasn't false.