Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Steelmanville Road'

Written by Scott Edwards

Getting on the same page as someone else is much easier said than done. As it is very easy for two people to hear the exact same thing and it means something different to each of them. I still don’t know how this works, but it has happened to me many times over my life and it can cause bigger blow ups than you could possibly imagine. The important thing to do is to make sure everything that is said is crystal clear to everyone involved and if you have the problem of people hearing different things altogether, have them repeat it back to you, so you can limit the excuses when all is said and done.
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With a surprise of a lifetime for her husband Matt, Rachel is making him wear a blindfold before it is exposed. Pulling up to a new house, Matt has no idea what they are doing there, but breaking the news that her estranged mother left it to her before her death, the couple has a real house to live in. Being surprised about the entire thing, Matt is willing to start this new journey with his wife and there will be nothing that gets in their way. But all is not as good as advertised as Rachel is starting to hear strange sounds around the house and thinks that it is her mother trying to communicate with her.

Knowing that there are creatures in the surrounding woods and old houses come with their old sounds, Matt is quick to discount anything sinister happening around the house, but there is a smell that comes and goes that cannot be explained. Getting cameras installed all around the house to make Rachel feel better about the situation, Matt has no idea what they are going to catch to prove that his wife is not crazy. After heading out for the night to calm down after a fight, Matt cannot be reached and the old house takes its time with Rachel on her own. With the power going out, Rachel hears some strange voices and does not see that a ghost child that is stalking her around the house. As the lights turn back on and Matt arrives home, the couple downloads the footage and are shocked at what they find.

Needing to know more about her mother, Rachel is able to get a meeting with her mother’s lawyer who contacted her about the house. Not knowing much about his client before she died, the lawyer points the couple in the direction of one of the friends of the mother. Calling Mona and inviting her to the house for a discussion, the couple finds out that she is very in tune with what happens in the house on the regular. Telling the couple how to keep the evil at bay, Rachel is starting to feel a bit better, but there is something that the old woman is not telling them. Inviting the old woman back to the house while Matt is at work, Rachel finds out that there is something sinister in her family’s past and while she does not believe one word of it, she gets a visit from a distant relative who is looking to further his family’s line.

As the second installment of the Bad Ben franchise, I must admit that I was a little disappointed overall.  While I loved the story, it seemed to be more of a production than the first one and it really had to do with the additional zooming of the cameras, I mean there were five angles in the living room alone and that just did not sit right with me after watching only one angle in Bad Ben. With that being said, the emotions that Matt and Rachel show were fun and the addition of Mona just helped to make me smile, since I could not tell which side she was really on. With a ghost brother, an old psychic, a secret in the attic, Bad Ben mysteries explained, a tainted family history and a beast in the back yard, it could have been better with less, but hey, I still made it to the end. Stay Scared.

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