Despite the estrangement, the news affects Rose and she decides to visit her late father's house, hoping to understand his reason for abandoning the family all those years ago, much to Charles' disapproval.

Meanwhile, Rose begins to notice strange things happening around the mansion, and even sees an apparition of her dead father, who points her towards the old chapel nearby.

[5] Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "First-time feature-director Andrew Desmond brings such confident panache to the supernatural thriller The Sonata that it almost doesn't matter how derivative the plot is.

"[7] Rex Reed of The New York Observer gave the film 1/4 stars, writing, "Ignoring the fact that nothing much is going on here, director Andrew Desmond plods along trying to make you believe otherwise.

"[3] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it "a leaden Gothic ghost story whose high-gloss imagery fails to disguise its low-energy plot.

"[8] NPR's Andrew Lapin criticized the film as "dreadfully dull and feel[ing] more than a little slapped together", and added, "Would-be demonologists can get more spook mileage from any high school orchestra's rendition of Danse Macabre.