THE MUSIC BOX *** U.S.A. 2019 Dir: John Real. 85 mins
A young girl is tragically orphaned and she left in the care of her estranged Aunt Annabelle. They both move into a creepy Victorian house. The young girl Sophie discovers a strange wooden box with a mysterious symbol embedded into it. Annabelle manages to open the box, which has been locked securely by its previous owner, revealing a beautiful music box that Sophie finds enchanting. Each time the music box is wound and replayed its chilling melody plays slightly longer, captivating Sophie even more.
The Music Box is very suspenseful, and that’s the main selling point of this little indie horror offering. There are a number of good build ups and even jump scares that are very chilling.
I love the scenes where us, as the audience, get to see the creepy ghost but the characters don’t. One of my favourite scenes is Aunt Annabelle investigating with a lantern, and the ghost appears behind her, she turns round and nothing is there. This film is full of awesome touches like that which make a truly good eerie horror film.
The Music Box has an awesome twist ending that I didn’t see coming a mile away, and I’m like Columbo when watching a movie!
Although slow in parts this a very good little ghost indie horror offering which is certainly worth a watch with suspenseful, sustained tension throughout.
Review by Tony Newton