The Return

Trapped in the body of this clunky, loud-noise-laden horror flick is the ghost of a forlorn Southern gothic trying desperately to escape. That latter story—about a haunted young woman dealing with bad memories—is clearly the one Sarah Michelle Gellar signed on for, though it’s hard to buy this twitchy, shrill-voiced actor in the role of anyone nicknamed “Sunshine” at a tender age (much less someone sprung from the loins of the majestically serene Sam Shepard). Still, watching Gellar’s real-estate agent make her way into rural Texas to confront a violated past, you wish the filmmakers would drop the shock tactics and dare to get dramatic. (Now playing; Click here for venues.)—Joshua Rothkopf