If ever a film failed to live up to its title… mild impatience, more like it. Anguish is essentially a tame bumps-and-thumps possession story with a rather folksy, melodramatic foundation. A mother and daughter move to a new home only to find themselves haunted by the spirit of a troubled girl who died after a row with her mother. The absolute nadir comes when the two mums are discussing the dead girl, and one of them says: “She just wants closure!” It’s more like a daytime-TV relationship show than a proper chiller. But young lead Ryan Simpkins, who plays haunted heroine Tess, has a grungy ordinariness about her that’s highly watchable.
