BOOOOOO!!!!! Did I scare ya, did I scare ya, huh, huh??? That's pretty much the "imaginative" technique used throughout this immensely dissapointing entry in the supernatural genre.
Yeah, I saw this tonight, they marketing lot introduced the film to us claiming this was a first preview screening...umm, saw what did see Todd and Vinvader see then, a 2 hour trailer? Bunch of liars those marketing lot! They tried to get us in the mood by calling on several volunteers to sit at the front wired up to measure their sweat and heart rate to prove how frightening this film is.
But what a disappointment, I thought I was in for a scary film but quite frankly you'll get more jumps from a popcorn machine than in this film:
The problem is not so much that the jumps were cheap BOOO moments but they were so typically placed and signposted that most of the jumps had no effect. Sure there are 2 or 3 moments of BANG!, THUMP!. You know how when you go on a ghost ride at the fun fair and men in custumes come out waving their hands saying mwahaaa or BOO? Well they flipping do that in here! Unbelievable. Except here they use the Japanese horror movie (like Juon) style imagery but with far inferior execution.
So what about the story. Well actually its ok, there is much intrigue and mystery but you only get a progression of revelations in the last 15mins or so but its ultimately unsatisfying. Ethan Hawke is excellent though, in fact all the actors were pretty good but something was missing, I didnt really care for them. The only character I really charmed to was a dopey policeman who provided some much needed comic relief as being a fan of Ethan Hawke's character (who plays a crime investigator writer).
But that's all the positive I can extract from this mediocre film. I give it a 5/10, its not that bad, there is some enjoyment to be had but not in the areas where it supposed to matter.
At the end of the movie, absolutely no one clapped. No one. Usually there is at least a respectful applause at preview screenings which are hosted by members of the film crew but the only sound you could hear was some sniggering as the audience headed out fast to the exit doors. No one cared what the result of the wired up volunteers were. Actually, from what I could see, they looked like they were uh, asleep?...I hope they didnt electrocute them just for marketing impact. Naa, they wouldnt go to those lengths, would they?...would they?!?