Jeane Cooley (Julie Delpy) and her husband, Guy (Justin Theroux), have just relocated to a small town in Massachusetts with their two children, Lucy and Molly. Guy’s plan to use land in the area for a windmill project isn’t the only reason for their move. Jeane is haunted by the tragedy of losing her youngest daughter in a terrible accident. Their creepy and belligerent neighbor, Jonas Dodd (Mark Boone Junior) feeds his pigs with noxious clam bellies to keep spirits away. But it’s not just the ravings of one crazy person; the entire town is spooked by the stories of a 250 year old ghost named Martha Keyes who searches tirelessly for her missing daughter, Lucy. As the deal for the windmill project goes through threatening the sanctity of Martha’s forest, ghost activity and Jonas’ strange behavior begin to increase. Soon, Jeane is convinced that her own daughter, Lucy, is threatened by ghosts of the past and the terrifying prospect of history repeating itself.

The Legend Of Lucy Keyes is a drama and a ghost story that’s much too heavy on the drama. The plot gets stuck in the middle of film on the land deal needed for Guy’s friggin’ windmill project. This big lull in action becomes quite painful yet I was surprised by the sharpness of the ending. Once the climax kicks in, everything comes together nearly redeeming the rest of the movie. The half-hearted ghost effects seem to have been added as an afterthought which will invariably lead horror fans wanting more and one of the only scares in the film is shown twice for some reason. A gorgeous Massachusetts Fall delivers the right atmosphere for a ghost story and the well-realized cinematography provides a very professional look for this meandering exercise in real estate and inheritance law.

The cast is good but they’re just about wasted here with the unremarkable material. Julie Delpy (Killing Zoe) is certainly a welcome sight and Justin Theroux (American Psycho, Mulholland Dr.) plays a jerk pretty damn well. Brooke Adams (Shock Waves, The Dead Zone) is no slouch and Mark Boone Junior (Trees Lounge, Memento) makes one hell of a nutjob. Cassidy Hinkle, who plays Lucy Cooley, is a bright little decent actress able to carry her own and even creep me out a little. Hats off to poor Kathleen Regan whose character, Molly Cooley, is probably the most blatantly useless and underwritten non-entity in the movie. Molly’s entire purpose in life is to not know where her sister is.

The Legend Of Lucy Keyes will most likely fade into obscurity and I’m not going to get too bent out of shape about it. A good cast and a suspenseful ending can’t save this one from getting stuck in its knee-deep mediocrity. The lack of originality and sincerity in the film may prove too much for some viewers but the pacing will ultimately be the deciding factor. The Legend Of Lucy Keyes isn’t horrible but it’s not that great either. And just for the record: when someone leaves a severed pig’s head on a post on your land, it’s a freakin’ warning! Okay? Got it? Good.