A happy family moves into a big old house, blithely shrugging off local rumors that it’s cursed. Sound familiar? It ought to — there is virtually nothing in Mac Carter’s horror flick that deviates from the standard haunted house plot (or, in this case, plod). That includes mysterious flitting shadows, a foreboding attic and appearances from actors you didn’t think would stoop to this sort of gig.
Here, that would be Jacki Weaver (Oscar nominee for “Silver Linings Playbook”) as the house’s only surviving former occupant, on hand to shriekily warn wayward teens Evan (Harrison Gilbertson) and Sam (Liana Liberato) to stay out of the aforementioned attic.
Ione Skye plays the requisite loving, oblivious mom, rolling her eyes as her youngest daughter (Ella Harris) prattles on about the virtues of befriending the ghost in your bedroom. The one old stand-by “Haunt” doesn’t employ is a coherent back story; attempting to make sense of its inconsistencies is the only reason you might give this thoroughly unambitious thriller an afterthought.