Wait Till Helen Comes

According to the distributor, this movie is "a scary ghost story for children not allowed at PG-13 and R-rated movies." In other words, it's specifically targeted at a pretty limited audience -- kids under 13. For parents who worry about overexposure to profanity and sex, Wait Till Helen Comes will trigger no alarm bells. However, just because the movie doesn't have cursing or nudity doesn't mean it's right for tweens. Nightmares are likely to be generated by nasty black flying things and ghosts luring children to drown themselves. Caution is urged. This may be too intense for many kids.

Ghost stories are always problematic. Why do the ghosts want to scare people? Why do they kill people? What good does more dead people do them? Don't look for answers here. In this case, a 19^th century girl died in an accident and, for generations to come, she keeps drowning other girls, supposedly so she can have company. Are there no other already dead people she can hang out with in the netherworld? Even crazier is that the haunting problem is finally solved when Molly opens a stuck cellar door, freeing the ghost's dead parents' spirits from where they died to rise into the night sky in swirling white mists of scariness. But wait. Ghosts walk through walls, right? How does a measly cellar door hold back any self-respecting spirit? For that matter, how come we don't all regularly see swirling spirits at funerals? At cemeteries? In hospitals? Sigh. The great Maria Bello's talents are wasted here.