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Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour
Score: 58%
Rating: PG
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home
                  Entertainment

Region: 1
Media: DVD/1
Running Time: 80 Mins.
Genre: Family/Horror/Mystery
Audio: English 5.1 (Dolby Digital)
Subtitles: English, French

Features:
  • Frida's Psychic Readings Game
  • Previews

Have you ever seen the "horror" shows for kids, like Are You Afraid of the Dark or even Goosebumps? If so, Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour is going to bring back lots of memories of them.

Sarah Landon (Rissa Walters) is a normal seventeen year old girl. Sometime in the past, her best friend was killed by a drunk driver. If you're like me, as soon as you find this out, you assume that the paranormal is going to be something to do with her dead best friend's ghost. If so, just like me, you'd be wrong.

After being guilt-tripped by her mother, Sarah decides to go visit the grandmother of her best friend, Thelma Shaw (Jane Harris). Just as soon as Sarah gets to town though, her car starts making a noise right across the street from the mechanic. Coincidence, huh? Carlos (Michael Silva) tells her that he can fix it, but he won't be able to get the part in until Monday, so she'll have the stay in town for the weekend. He even gets Sarah a ride to Mrs. Shaw's with the kid that works for him, Matt (Dan Comrie). It turns out that Sarah played with Matt when they were kids. Anyway, Sarah asks about Matt's brother, David (Brian Comrie). Carlos tells her a story about Matt and David's mother, Mary Ann (Nicole Des Coteaux), and their cousin Johnny (Rick Comrie). After the story, you'll probably figure out what the paranormal is going to end up being. Over the weekend that she spends in town, Sarah has to help David and Matt figure out how to keep David alive!

The plot in Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour is pretty decent. There are some twists along the way so that you don't always know exactly what is going to happen and when it will happen. The one thing you do find out is that the paranormal hour is between midnight and 1 AM. I guess these spirits don't like to stay up as late as the ones in Exorcism of Emily Rose do. The major problem with the movie, though, is the horrible acting. I don't think any of the actors have been in anything before, and most of them probably (hopefully) won't be in anything else. The majority, including Sarah, just couldn't act well at all. To make it worse, some were over-acting and some were under-acting, so when those were together, it was even more painful to watch.

There is only one special feature on the DVD, and it was our favorite part of the movie. There is a psychic in the movie, Frida (Sylvia Enrique). She is one of the few whose acting we enjoyed. She gets her own special feature, "Frida's Psychic Readings Game." It is basically like a magic 8 ball that you get to ask any yes or no question and she will give you the answer. Every time we tried, we got different ways of saying yes, like "Most Assuredly So" and no, like "Definitely Not." Frida always made us laugh, and shockingly, she was correct every time.

As long as you don't mind the acting, Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour is a pseudo-horror movie that is suitable for the entire family. If you're trying to keep your kids from watching blood, guts, and gore, you are safe here. Otherwise, the only reason I would recommend it is to play Frida's game.



-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl
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