Don't Listen

This couple that buy houses, renovate them, then sell them, purchase a big old house out in the countryside. Their son doesn't like it, saying he hears voices that tell him bad things. Soon enough, he turns up floating dead in the pool.

The mother retreats to her parents, but the father stays to try and finish the house (or process the loss). While listening to a voicemail he sent his wife that she claimed was garbled, he hears his son calling for his help. He enlists a guy who's written a bunch of books about ghosts communicating through electrical stuff, and the guy and his daughter (who doesn't believe in any of this) comes along as his assistant.

For a while, the movie feels like it's about grief. The ghost is able to mimic other people's voices, or even their appearance, and exploits this. When the mother returns to the house, having received a call from her son, she sees him disappear under his bed. The father sees his wife and son through a some plastic sheeting. The expert sees his deceased wife. The only one who seems resistant is Ruth, the expert's daughter. As soon as her mother beckons to her, she starts shaking her head and insists it isn't her.

Of course, it quickly becomes apparent the ghost doesn't have to bother with that, since it can attack people directly or even possess them somehow with flies the buzz into the victim's ears. Which makes you wonder why she bothers with all the deception and fanfare. I guess you've got to do something to pass the time when you're dead.

Fair number of jump scares, or scenes that get you to anticipate jump scares. The character sees something in one direction and it disappears. But the camera is pulled in on them so you can't see what's behind them, so when they go to turn around you're expecting a big surprise. They usually drag it out longer than that, and I can't decide whether they keep it going too long, or just long enough. You know it's gonna end badly, but the mounting confusion into terror of the characters is effective.

This movie is set in Spain, and it eventually turns out the house was used by the Inquisition. I thought it was funny the movie seems to argue that while, sure, the Catholic Church probably killed a bunch of innocent people here, this particular person probably really was an evil witch. Oh yes, now she's an angry, murdering, witch ghost. Much better.