Eric Roberts is peculiarly miscast as Jonathan, a cuddly psychotherapist and family man whose pregnant wife, Cecile (Deborah Twiss, the film's co-director), and two young kids rent a big house harboring a dark presence. The landlady, Alice (Cathy Moriarty), is a flinty introvert taking care of her bedridden mother; the pair have been living in the house for decades, and Alice decides to rent it out, knowing that she's probably putting Jonathan and his family in danger from a raging specter. What follows is the usual succession of hauntings and possession and nocturnal roaming through the house by whatever “It” is. Director Zachary Miller's A Cry from Within sports a crude, amateurish look that at times resorts to such shopworn clichés as point-of-view shots (from the demon's perspective) of racing up stairs and down hallways. All of this is far from scary or meaningful, while Jonathan's occupation invites characters to unburden themselves of pain and grief, making this about as self-conscious as a horror tale can get. Not a necessary purchase. (T. Keogh)
A Cry from Within
Breaking Glass, 96 min., not rated, DVD: $21.99, Mar. 17 Volume 30, Issue 3
A Cry from Within
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