''Long Time Dead'' is a 2002

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

, co-written and directed by

Marcus Adams Marcus Adams may refer to: * Marcus Adams (director), British film director * Marcus Adams (photographer) (1875–1959), British society photographer * Marcus Adams (Canadian football) (born 1979), Canadian football defensive tackle * Marcus Adams ...

in his directorial debut. Set in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the film follows a group of college students in which they experiment with a

Ouija board The Ouija ( , ), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along ...

and inadvertently summon a

djinn Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam. Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...

, an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

spirit of fire, which puts their lives in danger. The film stars

Alec Newman Mark Alexander Newman (born 27 November 1974) is a Scottish actor best known for portraying Paul Atreides in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 miniseries adaptation of Frank Herbert's ''Dune''. He played Adam Smasher in '' Cyberpunk 2077'' and '' Cyb ...

Marsha Thomason Marsha Lisa Thomason Sykes (born 19 January 1976) is an English actress who is best known for playing Sara Evers in Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion'', Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series ''Las Vegas'', Naomi Dorrit on the ABC ...

and

Joe Absolom Joe Absolom (born 16 December 1978) is an English actor known for his roles as Matthew Rose in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Al Large in the ITV comedy drama ''Doc Martin''. Early life Absolom was born in Lewisham, London. A former ...

alongside

Mel Raido Mel Raido (born 1977) is a Jamaican-born English actor. Raido moved to London at three years old. After taking elocution lessons, he started to become hooked by the acting bug at school and studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.< ...

Lara Belmont Lara Belmont (born 1980) is an English actress, best known for her role as Jessie in the 1999 film ''The War Zone''. She also appeared in ITV's lavish costume drama ''Henry VIII'' as his eldest daughter Mary Tudor. Belmont was born in Oxford, ...

Melanie Gutteridge Melanie Gutteridge is an English actress, best known for playing PC Emma Keane in ''The Bill''. She made two appearances in ''Not Going Out'' playing Amy. Biography Gutteridge was born in Waltham Forest, Essex, and studied at the Webber Douglas ...

and

Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable ...

Plot

In 1979, a group of demon worshippers in Morocco try to invoke a spirit using a

. It had resulted in 8 deaths and 2 survivals. In present-day London, 3 teenagers; Liam (Alec Newman), Rob (Joe Absolom) and Webster (Lukas Haas) prepare to go to a big party held at an abandoned warehouse. Another teenage girl, Stella (Lara Belmont) is also invited to the party and encounters Joe (Mel Raido), who would be the new roommate in the apartment the teenagers live in. She introduces Becker (Tom Bell), the landlord of the apartment to Joe. At the party, the teenagers hang out with Annie (Melanie Gutteridge), who is Liam's girlfriend as well as Lucy (Marsha Thomason) and Spencer (James Hillier), who are two teenagers who reside in a boat. After the teenagers get high from drinking and smoking, Spencer suggests to everyone they should try to play a Ouija Board and they all agree with him. The gang heads into an empty room within the factory and constructs a homemade Ouija Board using a glass and some paper. Lucy warns everyone that they should not take their finger off the glass or else the spirit they would be in contact with would be unable to return to its world. When the Ouija Board spells "

Djinn Jinn or djinn (), alternatively genies, are supernatural beings in pre-Islamic Arabian religion and Islam. Their existence is generally defined as parallel to humans, as they have free will, are accountable for their deeds, and can be either ...

", Liam has a traumatic flashback of the Djinn killing everyone, freaks out, breaks the glass and runs away. Everyone realizes how horribly wrong it has gone and decide to leave. Later that night, the Djinn hunts down Annie by throwing her through the

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

and causing her to fall hard onto a table, killing her. The teenagers later return to the apartment while Spencer and Lucy return to their boat, but a frightful encounter forces them to seek refuge at the apartment. While the teenagers try to investigate the cause of Annie's death, a power outage occurs. When Spencer and Webster sneak into Becker's room to turn the power back on, they discover a bunch of photos, relics and newspaper articles that he had kept and urge the others to come and see. They discover that Becker and Liam's father, Paul Brennan (Michael Feast) once conducted a seance to come into contact with the Djinn and Paul was sent to a hospital. They decide to call the police. The next day, the teenagers meet Liam at school to tell him what they had discovered, but Liam denies any knowledge of it. He later decides to visit Paul at the hospital to get some answers to his questions. Meanwhile, Becker visits Lucy to warn her that the Djinn has possessed one of the teenagers and she has to conduct a banishing to get rid of the evil spirits. At the same time, Stella, Joe and Webster progressively get killed by the Djinn. That night, Lucy meets Spencer and Rob to tell them her idea to banish the Djinn. Lucy, Rob and Spencer head into the same abandoned factory where Annie was killed the night. Meanwhile, Liam notices that the 3 of them are missing and heads to the factory to look for them. The three teenagers try to conduct the banishing but it fails when the Ouija Board catches fire and explodes. Spencer tries to hide, but is killed by Rob (who was actually possessed by the Djinn the entire time). Becker arrives to knock Rob unconscious and covers him in gasoline, but Liam attacks Becker while Rob finishes the job. Rob insists to Liam they should leave, but Liam finds Lucy hanged to her death inside an elevator shaft. When he asks Rob for help, the Djinn reveals itself and attacks Liam. In a scuffle, Liam picks up an oil lamp and uses it to ignite Rob on fire, and he kicks him down the elevator shaft. However, the shaft explodes and Liam is killed. With Liam dead, the Djinn possesses his body to visit Paul in the hospital, where he burns him.

Cast

as Liam *

as Lucy *

as Rob *

as Webster *

James Hillier James Hillier, (August 22, 1915 – January 15, 2007) was a Canadian- American scientist and inventor who designed and built, with Albert Prebus, the first successful high-resolution electron microscope in North America in 1938. Biography ...

as Spencer *

as Joe *

as Stella *

as Annie * Tom Bell as Becker *

Michael Feast Michael Feast (born 25 November 1946) is an English actor of stage and screen. Early life Feast was born in Brighton, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Career He performed in the original 1968 London production of ''Hair ...

as Paul Brennan

Reception

''Long Time Dead'' received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and audiences. It currently has an approval rating of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 9 critics.

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, long_time_dead 2002 films 2002 horror films 2000s horror thriller films British horror thriller films English-language French films Films scored by Don Davis (composer) Films set in Morocco Films set in England French horror thriller films Genies in film StudioCanal films Working Title Films films 2002 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films 2000s French films English-language horror thriller films Ouija