This is the story about a doll that goes around killing people, The End. Okay, okay, there is more to the story, and this is how it starts-Cutie Pie Jaime Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) comes home from the store, and sees his wife (Laura Regan) dead, and I mean dead. Kaputt, expired, departed, done, exhausted, you know what I’m trying to say. And there is this doll…………just sitting there as if to say,”LOOK STUPID, I DID IT, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?”

Now someone mailed this doll to Jaime, but he doesn’t know who, and figures the doll may have something to do with it, so he sets out back to his hometown (Raven Fairs) to bury his wife, and to find clues to her murder. Now be prepared, because there are a lot of weirdos in this town, what’s left of it. It looks like all the kool people left and came to Chicago were I am. Anyway, let me get back on track here. Jaime also meets up with his estranged father (Bob Gunton) and his new trophy chick, eh, I mean sweet and lovable wife (Amber Valletta).

While back home, Jaime gets the low down (no, not down lo) on the legend of Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist who was murdered by the Ashen ancestors, and because of this, sent a curse sailing through the ages, down the family tree. Detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) believing Jaime is the one responsible for his wife’s death, follows him to this strange town, and they both end up with more than they can handle.

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I really don’t think Ryan Kwanten was the guy for this part. He reminds me of a surfer guy, and when I first saw him, I said to myself, “Wow. This guy is cute. He’s probably not too bright, and he won’t make it past the first scene.”  Of course as time went on, I realized that he was the main character, and then I started thinking all throughout the movie, “Jaime, Jaime, can I have your phone number?” 

They should have thrown (and I mean that literally) Shilo Lebouf in this role, as I would be waiting for him to get his head chopped off at every turn. It’s awkward how detective Lipton abruptly arrives at this supposedly abandoned mansion from chasing Jaime (who was never on the run to begin with), then they partner up after the house decides to spaz out, all this weird stuff happens, and then they learn to trust each other. Hey, I’m all for having backup, but I would have liked for the two of them to have been less adversarial from the start, making their new found partnership more believable.

This movie is definitely tamer than any of the Saw series. No gore, no torture, I liked it. What? Okay, okay, you’re mad because you don’t think a horror movie can be good unless people are being hacked to pieces, and hanging naked from a rope? Hmmm. You’re scaring me now. Thank goodness I’m probably thousands of miles away from you. “All right, I get it. You are a die hard horror fan, and this isn’t getting it for you, understood.” However, for those who would like to see a simple ghost story, this is it.