Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The St. Francis Experiment’

Written by Scott Edwards

Everybody has questions as to whether or not ghosts really exist and hopefully someday we will get some cut and dry evidence that they do. Wanting to know what happens after we die is something that is on everybody’s mind and if we are filled with energy like some people believe, then that energy would just transfer to a different plane and our soul would continue on living. When there are soft spots between these planes, that is where the ‘ghosts’ show themselves and interact with the living. While there are so many questions surrounding this, let’s just hope that somehow science is able to prove it and we can get everyone on the same page.
​
Wanting to find out if an old plantation house in Louisiana is haunted by the ghost of the notorious Madame LaLaurie, four amateur ghost hunters have been sent in to investigate. With all of the history surrounding the murderous Madame, Paul, Madison, Ryan and Tim have no idea what could be hidden in the walls of the old house. Not being allowed to leave the house until dawn the next day, the group enters the house to find a falling chandelier is waiting to greet them. Feeling uneasy already, the group finds all sorts of cold spots as they start to look around but have no idea what the house has in store for them.

Asking the house to treat them as guests and nothing more, Madison, the psychic, knows that there is someone following them around the house. Trying not to freak everyone out by what she is feeling, the group gets their gear all set up and start to move around to prove whether or not the house is haunted. Moving throughout the house, the group starts to see doors open on their own, but not having the cameras rolling, the group quickly finds out that there is definitely something strange going on around them. After finding a mummified doll hidden in a wall, the group moves up to the attic only to find that the spirit in the house does not want them there.

Reviewing the footage of a chair being flung across the room, everybody is visibly shaken, but they have achieved what they were supposed to do, prove that the house is in fact, haunted. With plenty more to do around the house, the group goes back to the hunt and witness more things happening around them.  Wanting to contact the ghost that is lurking in the shadows, the group holds a séance only to find that the ghost knows Madison personally. While she does not understand how this could be, the group starts to get tormented by the restless spirit who is looking to make them a fixture in the house. Needing to perform a cleansing of the house before they can leave, the group splits up to cover more ground, but with no one to keep an eye on each other, the spirit will feast upon them one by one.

When it comes to telling a good ghost story, you have to know what happened in the past and this movie did just that. With the chilling history of Madame LaLaurie being put front and center in the opening, you really get a feeling of what kind of woman she was and what she was willing to do to anyone in the house. The group conversations throughout were pretty fun, especially when the fear of being alone started to come into play. I liked the ghostly occurrences throughout the house as they started off as being directed at individuals, then intensified when everyone headed out on their own. With a creepy old mansion, a troublesome history, jump scares, a killer ghost and a Madame who loved to torture her employees, this is just a fun ghost story that will leave you wondering how things could go so wrong. Stay Scared.

---