He chose not that house. Passing by an old, decrepit, and even better sinister and abandoned mansion, each of us immediately wonders about what happened here a nightmare, who was killed here, or maybe a sorcerer opened a passage to another dimension and from now on this is the real gate to Hell. Our imagination is capable of truly amazing things, and even if there is absolutely nothing interesting in the old house, until we personally scout it, the fear of the unknown will only grow, feeding a slightly raised dose of adrenaline in the blood. However, it must be admitted that most films about houses with ghosts and other evil spirits are frankly disappointing and can not offer us anything significant. For each project in the style of “Ghosts on the Hill House” by Mike Flanagan, at least a couple of dozen frankly passing works are attached, which in all speculate on our expectations, but do not go beyond a promising synopsis. Nevertheless, the thrill-seeking viewers continue to provide the artisans with the necessary credit of trust, and they in turn regularly supply selected slag on the screens, which, with only a few exceptions, takes a relatively digestible form. Such a steady, but not brilliant creators include Travis Stevens, in whose filmography there were already films about houses with ghosts, which may not be an outright failure, but to praise them was also very difficult. And yet Stevens did not even think to give up his favorite business, contacting former wrestler SM Punk and going with him to the gloomy corridors of the horror “Girl from the third floor”, which, like the previous works of the director, promises at first much more than it gives. And it seems from such a kind of projects, and even with such dubious performers, one should not expect anything truly outstanding, and nevertheless it is still a shame for the wasted time and wasted potential of a story that could stand out, but drowned in the catastrophic incompetence of the creators.
So, the plot of the film introduces us to not the most pleasant guy named Don (Punk), whose wife Liz (Trieste Kelly Dunn) is preparing to give him a child. Realizing that life will soon take a very different turn, Don decides that his family should move from the bustling Chicago to a small town where they can afford a larger house. Don does not have much money, and nevertheless he has the opportunity to buy an old mansion, which is worth working on. Having moved into the house, the hero decided to bring it to its proper state on his own, but very soon it becomes clear that in addition to Don himself, something sinister dwells here, whose strength is only strengthening every day. Getting acquainted with the sociable neighbor Sarah (Sarah Brooks), Don for a while distracted from pressing problems and even was not averse to spending time with her in bed, but this only aggravated the situation. From now on, a real hunt begins for an unfaithful husband and not the most talented repairman. Lisa is not going to stop there and literally pursues Don with some, far from the safest goals for his personal life, and something sinister, living in the house and not even thinking to go anywhere, complements the unfunny picture of what is happening, inflicting a heavy blow on the psyche of the guy. In such a situation, any person could calmly lose his mind and now it is important to understand whether Don can cope with the situation, or it is better for him to fall victim to a script that scattered so many enticing ideas around the timekeeping, after which they all turned into something incomprehensible and faded.
Working on most of his films as a director, Travis Stevens tries not to miss the opportunity to put a hand in the script, but he is critically unlucky with talented colleagues who help him prescribe confident dramaturgy. Stevens is able to prescribe an intriguing general plot outline, but on closer examination it turns out that in the smallest details his paintings have critical problems, and The Girl from the Third Floor is no exception. Most of the extraordinary revelations that should turn our perception of history on its head, in fact, do not lead to anything sensible, and it happens here repeatedly. It can be seen that the script was written by several people, each of the authors had ideas that should be linked together and make confident conclusions, but some negligence or haste led to the fact that “The Girl from the Third Floor” turned into another film about a house with paranormal activity, which even with a great desire can not be distinguished by a special one. But the saddest thing is that if you give up a few plot twists and fix something, and on the way out, something extraordinary could actually come out, capable of adding something fresh to the horror genre. And so we got another film by Travis Stevens, which will never be anything like a classic, but generally disappear from the memory of the audience after a while after watching.
In addition to script problems, which in principle could be corrected, the film has gaps in the cast. For the most part, they all belong to the figure of SM Punk, who was never a talented dramatic actor, but somehow decided that he was able to show something more serious than his colleagues in the ring in the person of Hulk Hogan, Dwayne Johnson and John Cena, who decided to show themselves in the laid-back genre of action. Of course, on the one hand, Punk can be praised for trying to do something extraordinary in his career, but on the other, over the years in the entertainment industry, he must have realized that everyone must be in his place, otherwise he will be forgotten. SM Punk chose for a long time which project to join, and eventually settled on cooperation with Travis Stevens. And it would not be a problem if he played a supporting role that would give him certain prospects. But no, Punk decided to win all the attention of the audience, not really understanding exactly how to play and what to do, so as not to spoil the impression of himself and his game. It is not surprising that with such greed, he did not succeed, and everything suggests that further acting career of Punk without taking the appropriate conclusions, will be something frankly disastrous.
In the end, I want to say that the third-floor girl is not going to be a revelation, and it just upsets us that she could have been better if Travis Stevens and SM Punk had learned from their previous career mistakes. So we got another film from a gray genre mass, which should not be taken to heart.
3 out of 10