“Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour” seeks to be the Nancy Drew of the occult. It openly bills itself as the first in a series of movies. Is it really a family friendly horror film? Is Sarah Landon wholesome entertainment?

On the positive side, the story is interesting and had potential. The movie had only two foul words that I noticed ('you are a pain in the a--' and one other mild profanity) and no on screen violence. There was no blood and no sex. There was not even a kissing scene. Except for the “scary” elements and the occult story, this was as clean a movie as has been released in a long time.

Unfortunately, other negative elements are plentiful. From a Christian perspective the movie promotes spiritualism (the religion which rejects the Christian view of the afterlife), reincarnation, psychic powers, seances, druid rituals, and offers no Christian alternatives to the pagan worldview promoted in the film. Because the film is clearly aimed at young children, this may actually be more dangerous, as it is pushing an occultic worldview incompatible with the Christian faith.

On a technical level, the movie also fails. Despite a potentially entertaining script (ignoring the pagan occult issue) the acting is mediocre and the directing is uninspired, to say the least. The movie never pulled me into the story or made me care about the characters. Even the minor characters looked as if they were reading from a teleprompter, and none seemed to feel their role.

The plot revolves around a teenage girl who visits a small town with a secret. A man once promised to kill a young boy on his twenty-first birthday. The fact that the man is now dead doesn't seem to stop fear that he will fulfill his promise. As that boy has now grown up, his twenty-first birthday approaches, and he is convinced that he will be killed by the spirit of the man… or perhaps he was reincarnated as the odd boy living next door? It is up to Sarah Landon to help find out the truth and save his life!

Ultimately, “Sarah Landon…” looked more like an Afterschool TV Special. The script did not require a huge budget, so the issue was not money but lackluster production, uninspired directing, and mediocre acting. If there are anymore Sarah Landon mysteries, I suspect they will be direct to video. The movie was certainly not a terrible movie, but it did not look like it was destined for the big screen.

Violence: Minor / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: None

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