‘I would focus just on getting rid of the property…’
Sometimes, it feels like my cinematic watchlist has been compiled by a different person entirely. I’ve got no memory whatsoever of adding this film, or indeed, why I added it. It’s over 10 years old. It’s not particularly acclaimed or well known. But here we all are. And it was fine, I suppose…
Richard Scarry (Gabriel Diani) is an unassuming realtor whose honest streak prevents him from being able to flip a haunted house. Despite the best efforts of his (business) partner Dave (Jonathan Klein), it feels like Richard is destined to be stuck with this cursed abode for the foreseeable future.
So, this isn’t a horror film. It’s a comedy. And it does have funny moments, but it also does a great job in lampooning the tropes and peccadilloes that make up the haunted house genre, and as a big fan myself, there was a lot to enjoy in what is essentially a spoof of all those movies that followed in the wake of Insidious.
Diani carries the film and he is likeable enough but he lacks the star quality required to render The Selling anything more than a forgettable popcorn flick. A third rate Shaun of the Dead.
And so it goes that after five short paragraphs, I have absolutely nothing else to add about this film. A fittingly pointless review…