The Horror Show
Restoration
by Zack Ward
Restoration is like Neapolitan ice cream, three good flavors that taste good together. After reading the synopsis I thought this would be a run of the mill ghost story. What it ended up being was a ghost story, murder mystery, and possession flick. I was kind of excited.
The directorial feature debut of Zack Ward, Restoration is an interesting choice for a first outing. Ward is best known as Skut Farkus from that holiday classic, A Christmas Story, and now he's giving it a go behind the camera as well as in front.
Restoration is the story of a young couple, Becca and Todd who are restoring the house they just moved in to. During the restorations Todd finds a teddy bear hidden in the walls. Hidden within the bear is the diary of a little girl named Katie. While all this is unfolding, we're introduced to the very off-putting neighbors, Harold and Francine. Francine is extremely touchy feely, and to be honest, she gave me a case of the jibblies.
When it flips from ghost story to murder mystery is kind of clunky. It almost seems forced and it stops feeling like a horror movie. It didn't make me want to turn it off so there's that, but it was still very jarring. However, the transition to possession flick was pretty smooth. It gave you the entire back story in a very clever flashback, easing you into the possession story arc.
The effects were nice, nothing too spectacular but still enjoyable. The only thing I had a problem with was the overuse of jump scares. One of these days I hope the makers of horror movies learn one jump scare is fun, too many jump scares are predictable.
For his first feature length directorial venture, Zack Ward did pretty well. Restoration isn't a super great movie but it's really not bad. It's got some neat scares and the story is really interesting. Check it out.
Robin Thompson, HMS
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