The Legend Of Lucy Keyes certainly kicks things off quick as a malicious spirit invades the bedroom of little Lucy (Cassidy Hinkle) and tries to take her away as her parents try to stop the spectre. It's probably the most "horror" moment in the entire movie, as the rest of the film is a leisurely paced story that feels like a TV movie and writer-director John Stimpson's story seems more focused on the townsfolk's opposition to a farm that will use windmills to harness energy than delivering any scares. It's too bad then that the exact same scene is played out again in the last third of the film.

Guy and Jeanne Cooley (Justin Theroux and Julie Delphy) move to the small town of Princeton with their two daughters in order for Guy to oversee a project that will convert a piece of land in the nearby countryside into an energy generating windmill facility. He soon finds himself coming up against some unhappy townsfolk who don't want him to change the land as they're afraid it will anger the ghost of Molly Keyes who is said to be wandering the woods looking for her daughter who disappeared years prior.

On top of that, they also have to deal with their gruff neighbour Jonas (Mark Boone Junior), who has been feeding stinky slop to his pigs to try and make life uncomfortable for the newcomers as well as the fact their youngest daughter Lucy not only shares the name of the ghostly Keyes' missing kin but seems to have a connection with our wandering apparition.

From there Stimpson's movie can't really decide if it wants to be a ghost story or a uninspired small town drama as he mixes scenes of Guy and his business partner Samantha (Brooke Adams) having town meetings with Delphy's character being plagued by nightmares while dealing with the guilt of one of her daughter's dying in an accident and trying to delve into the history of the Keyes and the subsequent disappearance. It's this lack of focus and his occasional "save the environment" messages that makes what's a fairly interesting idea not much more than a dull time.

If there's one thing people don't want from a ghost story it's a lot of heavy-handed drama but with The Legend Of Lucy Keyes they get it in spades. In between the scenes of people having sweaty dreams and visions there's way too much of the townsfolk arguing, Delphy acting all distraught, and Stimpson gives way too much camera time to the character of Jonas who, as acted by Boone Junior, comes across as too over-the-top and belligerent. And that's the problem, there's not nearly enough supernatural goings-on on screen to keep our interest. It's really too bad as the opening moment promises a lot more than the movie can deliver as the haunting moments are generally well-handled and the effects to pull them off are actually better than a lot of true, straight-ahead horror flicks can muster.

On the acting front the movie gets solid performances from most of the cast. Delphy's French accent tends to slip up more often than not but she does okay as the "concerned mother" character, Theroux is decent in what's a somewhat limited role, and Adams (who genre fans will know from 1977's Shock Waves and David Cronenberg's adaptation of The Dead Zone) also handles her role well. If anything the child actors on hand give the poorest performances but I suppose that's to be expected.

Apparently based on a true story that occurred in 1755, The Legend Of Lucy Keyes doesn't bring enough to the table to satisfy the viewer and doesn't do quite enough with its premise to make it anything more than passable. It's competently made and acted but it offers next to nothing for the horror audience it's targeted at. (Chris Hartley, 9/3/07)

Directed By: John Stimpson.
Written By: John Stimpson.

Starring: Julie Delphy, Justin Theroux, Brooke Adams, Cassidy Hinkle.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: This lower-budgeted effort looks decent on disc with a clean transfer and fine colour definition. There was nothing here distracting from viewing the movie.

Extras: On the disc I recieved there was only a trailer but the retail version also contains a director's commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes and biographies.

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