Review: ‘Lovely Molly’ is creepy, but not in a good way

In”Lovely Molly,”a young woman moves with her new husband back into her family’s empty old house. She immediately begins behaving strangely, as if the house itself exerts some mysterious power — whether she is being overtaken by bad memories and old habits or something supernatural is initially unclear.

If the story sounds somewhat similar to the recent Elizabeth Olsen vehicle”Silent House,”it is, and unfortunately, “Lovely Molly” and its star, newcomer Gretchen Lodge, only suffer in comparison. But then “Lovely Molly” isn’t doing anyone any favors.

Writer-director Eduardo Sanchez co-directed “The Blair Witch Project,” and this new film naturally includes footage captured by video camera, but it isn’t well-motivated and the way Sanchez switches between first-person footage and a more omniscient style of storytelling seems arbitrary. Common sense and basic logic are left are the door; there’s a brief creature effect that is laughably, outlandishly awful.

“Lovely Molly” also repeatedly employs a creepily sung rendition of the folk song that gives the film its title. Once you’re loading on tired clichés, what’s one more?

—Mark Olsen

“Lovely Molly.” MPAA rating: R for strong disturbing violence and grisly images, some graphic sexual content and nudity, drug use and language. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. At the Chinese 6 Theatres, Hollywood; AMC Orange 30, Orange.