Conor McPherson‘s The Eclipse (Magnolia, 3.26) doesn’t broadly signal that it’s a creepy ghost story, but when the scary moments happen they pay off on a level that conventional thrillers miss because they’re playing a more obvious game. It’s certainly worth seeing for this unusualness, and for the sturdy lead performance by the great Cieran Hinds, who always brings all kinds of inner currents to the table.

At times the spook-outs feel like similar moments in Jack Clayton‘s The Innocents, which are my favorite kind.

It’s got a couple of issues (one being a boozing, boorish writer played by Aidan Quinn, whose presence wears very thin by the end) but it’s far from a bust and in no way a burn. So I’m not quite understanding the 63% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating, which is a failing grade by high-school quiz standards. The Eclipse is more 80% or even 85%. It’s a better-than-decent Irish ghost story so whaddaya whaddaya?

I did a little phoner with McPherson and Hinds a couple of weeks ago, and have been putting off writing up their quotes because I hate writing up interviews because it takes too much time and effort. It gives me a headache on top of everything else. I’ll post a video or audio recordings with a four- or five-graph intro but that’s as far as I go these days. Especially when it’s the late afternoon (as it is now). But I’ve posted this and the Eclipse tryptich thing (above) so I’ve covered things for now.