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It has been really hard to sell a house in this downmarket, wouldn’t you agree? But what if the house was haunted!? How’s that for an original creative plot. Emily Lou debuts the world premiere of The Selling at the San Francisco International Film Festival and you have got to check it out because it’s hilariously quirky and fun. The Selling combines the HGTV fix up your home craze with classic haunted house antics to create a cute and campy ghost story that the whole family can enjoy. It doesn’t scare away from making fun of the genre as well as making fun of itself allowing you to laugh along as the story unfolds.


Richard Scarry (Gabriel Diani) is in the business of turning houses with his buddy Dave Ross (Jonathan Klein). Mary Best (Janet Varney), a kind of evil co-worker, unloads a house on them but doesn’t let them know it’s apparently haunted. It doesn’t take long before they realize something’s horrifically wrong. They try fixing up the house but the ghost doesn’t make it easy…rearranging furniture Richard tries to set, overflowing toilet of black sludge, random rocks being thrown and doors closing by themselves, bleeding walls, a door that is a portal to the spirit realm and of course ghosts popping up in mirrors when you don’t expect them to. You know, the usual scare tactics.

Richard tries to plead with the house letting it know that no matter what it tries, they’re going to sell it. Dave, on the the other hand, helps from outside…he’s not stepping one foot in that place. In a final last ditch public auction, they’re stopped by a local ghost blogger named Ginger Sparks (Etta Devine). She scares away all potential buyers as she reveals that this was the house of the Sleepstalker, an alleged serial killer who murdered 12 victims in his sleep and then hung himself before he could stand trial.


Diani (the screenwriter and star) is what really sells The Selling with his awkwardly quirky mannerisms. His character is too nice to be a salesman which his mother (Nancy Lenehan) lets him know. I loved their relationship and clever dialogue…they really brought this smart script to life. For example, when Mom looks up the Sleepstalker on the internet for the explanation segment of the movie, she ends with, “This is really not helpful, is it?” When the house starts ruining Richard’s life, he seeks out Ginger and she figures it wasn’t the Sleepstalker haunting the house but an ancient unnamed evil that possessed him and is now possessing Richard.

Once this stage of the movie begins, it gets even better! You know how characters sound when they’re possessed by an ancient unnamed evil and The Selling takes it to another comedic level. Again, it’s Diani that sells the movie and makes it really enjoyable. It’s a wacky tale of horror that takes the genre in a different direction but doesn’t go too over the top. If you’re into the kind of comedy style that this is written in, you’re going to love it…otherwise you’ll just enjoy it The Selling premieres at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Friday, April 29 at and screens again on Wednesday. You can still buy tickets here!

Tags: Emily Lou, Etta Devine, Gabriel Diani, Janet Varney, Jonathan Klein, Nancy Lenehan, San Francisco International Film Festival, SFIFF, The Selling

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 28th, 2011 at 2:16 pm and is filed under 54th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.