A Young Girl Sees the Spirits of Dead People that Lie "Within"

Ten years ago, Haley Joel Osment played a little boy tormented by the restless spirits of dead people in "The Sixth Sense," a cutting edge horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. "Within," a movie making its debut on Lifetime, features another child who can see dead people-and these spirits are really mean. "Fans of 'The Sixth Sense' will enjoy this one," Hanelle M. Culpepper, director of "Within," told Associated Content via telephone. "Also, (fans of) 'The Good Son' and 'The Bad Seed.'"

"Within" marks a departure for the Lifetime Network

In this film, young Mia Ford plays Rachel Weiss, a girl who sees the spirits of dead people. After her mother is brutally murdered, Rachel and her dad (Sam Jaeger) make a fresh start in a new town, but Rachel still is haunted by visions of the dead. To cope with her strange abilities, Rachel sleeps on her closet floor and carries a tube of mother's lipstick everywhere she goes.

A thriller like "Within" is not the type of film that Lifetime fans are used to seeing, though. "They (Lifetime) wanted to do something a little more edgy with their programming. That's why they liked this one," Culpepper said. "One of the sales guys told me they described it as 'Orphan Light'-a lighter version of that movie."

Still, there are other elements in "Within" that make it a great fit for Lifetime. "There are some similarities with their other movies-two female protagonists who are making things work. They are saving each other as opposed to a man coming in to save them. I think it fits in that way, too," Culpepper said.

Sammi Hanratty embodies the evil elements of "Within"

The "Bad Seed"/"Orphan" elements in the film are embodied by Michelle Lowe (Sammi Hanratty), Rachel's classmate who can go from best friend to brat in a matter of seconds. Michelle takes a liking to Rachel, but being Michelle's friend usually comes with a terrible price. Coming from an established family in town, Michelle uses a combination of bribery and threats to keep Rachel by her side. Michelle also has a strange obsession with death.

"Honestly, she is absolutely the sweetest person you could ever meet," Culpepper said, talking about actress Sammi Hanratty. "She was very good at turning it on once it was time to roll and turning it off once it was over," Culpepper said. "In fact, in the scene where she throws a ball at the dead boy's picture, after we shot that, as soon as I said 'Cut', she went 'I'm so mean, so evil.'"

Culpepper did say, however, that Hanratty really enjoyed playing the part of Rachel. "From hearing her talk about it, it was also fun, because that's not who she is. You kind of get to act out this entirely different persona. She actually got a kick out of doing it," she said.

"Within" debuts on Lifetime on Saturday, July 31 at 9 p.m.