Search

A Haunting at Preston Castle - 2014 - P.F.F.

Horror Diva
May 10, 2016
5 min read

Updated: Oct 29, 2022

A Haunting At Preston Castle - 2014 - PFF

Every so often I like to just pick a movie at random from the streaming services that I use. The winner this time is a not too terrible little film called “A Haunting at Preston Castle”. Now my curiosity was peaked due to the “Inspired by True Events” tag. So, of course, I had to check out what information there is about Preston Castle. Preston Castle is a real place, it is located in Ione, California. Also known as the Preston School of Industry it is one of the oldest and best-known reform schools in the United States. During its lifetime, Preston Castle was home to some pretty famous people.

Some of which are as follows:

Country Legend Merle Haggard had a permanent reminder of his days at the Castle with a “Psol” tattoo.

Film Legend and Horror Icon Rory Calhoun lived there as “Francis McCown” in the late 1930s.

Tennis great Pancho Gonzales perfected his skills on the Preston tennis courts before going on to be rated by some experts as the greatest player of all time.

The Castle has been featured on both “Ghost Adventures” (Travel Channel) as well as “Ghost Hunters” (SyFy). This was not a very nice place, starvation, beatings, public lashings, and isolation were just some of the common practices. As well as diseases like TB and typhoid fever. Because of these reasons as well as at least one young man being shot by a guard during an escape attempt. Many people feel that this castle is haunted by many of the young men that died here and their spirits are not at rest.

Now the movie makes mention and shows news articles of the murder of housekeeper, Anna Corbin, who was killed there in the 1950s. That is actually a true story. The woman was killed bludgeoned to death by an inmate. One of the Castle’s black children was tried twice for the crime, but the results from both trials were a hung jury. To this day, no one has ever admitted to her murder, nor has anyone been convicted either. Ok, so enough of a history lesson. Time to talk about the movie.

I can honestly say that I did not go into this film with very high hopes, but I was pleasantly surprised. Now mind you, this is not going to make any Oscar lists or Top 10 films of all-time list, but it also isn’t a complete waste of an hour and a half. I am a fan of “haunted” locations and “found footage films”. This is a little different for me because I usually stick to haunted castles, hospitals, or asylums and this is a haunted boy’s reform school in California.

The production values go between pretty decent to Go-Pro/Cell phone quality. While this is discouraging to some, I think this was done intentionally, as the cell videos and “video diary” are actually part of the storyline. The location is beautiful, yet totally creepy, even in the daylight. There is a great use of lighting and sound as well as a really interesting use of shadows. The use of subtle sound effects helps create a great suspenseful build-up to the story’s climax. There is also the use of my favorite horror film trick, “Did I really just see something?” Sadly though, there is some pretty bad CGI work that cheapens the feel of the film.

The story is pretty straightforward and almost simplistic. Liz is home from college on a break with a broken heart. Her best friend Ashley wants to cheer her up so she plans an outing for them. (Cause that ALWAYS goes well, “Wrong Turn” anyone?) When Ashley calls to finalize their plans she tells Liz that she has invited Liz’s high school sweetheart as a “make you feel better”, much to the initial discomfort of Liz. Though once they all get to the lake, she gets over it in record time. After hanging out lakeside for a short time, they decided to head out to Preston Castle for some stories and drinking. (Again, good decision making does not seem to be a trait for these friends.) This time Ashley is the one visibly upset by this idea and tells them that her boyfriend will kill her if he finds out she was there, as he believes in the haunted history of the building. I’m pretty sure you can figure out what happens when you have 3 twenty-somethings, add in some alcohol, and a haunted location.

The cast itself is relatively unknown outside of the indie movie circuit. Our heartbroken lead, Liz is played by the beautiful Mackenzie Firgins and she is most recognizable as the oldest sister in the 2006 Horrorfest film “The Hamiltons”. The only real complaint I have with her performance was the inconsistency of her character. One minute she is a loving, sweet, caring woman and in the next moment, she is a bossy, nasty, hateful witch who you hope meets her end around the next corner. It is also a bit annoying at how inconsistent she uses the video camera when she is quick to tell Ashley that everything goes in the "diary". It would not have been so bad if there had been a reason behind her shifts in personality but there is nothing to give reason to it. I am hoping that with more experience she will grow to become a pretty good horror lady. It could have just been how the part was written. I look forward to seeing what comes her way in the future..

Our next cast member is the lovely yet moody Ashley, played by Heather Tocquigny. Ashley is a far more believable character and is in many ways much more likable, in my opinion. She is not thrilled by the field trip to the Castle and her acting skills are more on point with what is going on around her. She did have a part in the 2010 horror film Insidious and is in the upcoming horror film “Dark Games” (to be released sometime in 2016. I look forward to seeing her more as her career continues to blossom. I love the fact that she is more human in her acting. She is believable when she is acting scared, angry, or lost. That to me makes a much more likable character than a shrieking harpy that many horror films tend to cast.

Our last major cast member is Danny, Liz’s high school sweetheart. He is played by the relatively unknown Jake White. I find him neither likable nor sympathetic. He flits between semi-decent acting to completely over-the-top reactions that don’t even fit the situation or make any sense. He is the storyteller for the backstory of the Castle. Though there is something about his storytelling that has a total yawn factor. His awkward interactions with Liz are just painful to watch as he goes from being goo-goo eyed for her to acting like a spoiled brat and telling her that he was glad she had left, all within about 10-15 minutes. With the proper experience under his belt and the proper films to play to his boyish cute looks, he could go onto good things. Sadly, Jake doesn’t really have anything worthwhile on his resume so far.

All in all, this is not a terrible movie, with a larger budget or diving a bit more into the backstory of the prison would have made it an even better story. This is a pretty Panda Friendly Film. There is no nudity, one implied sex scene (implied by you hear some grunting and moaning), the violence, gore, and blood are minimal. If you can get through it, it is not a bad movie to watch with people who do not like horror movies.