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3 reviews
Creepy at times, Slow out of the gate. So Lost Interest
The competition in the arena of good cross-over films is quite heavy when it comes to making a film with multiple elements. What's really good about this film is the spooky cinematography elements intermingled throughout the story-line and dialogue. What's totally implausible is the calmness of John James (Kevin Costner). I must say that he was actually playing a normal guy who was walking through life with this reserved numbness. Yes, it's great that you can actually feel the anguish, however, it seemed like it would have been nicer if Costner would have played his character with a bit more zest, zeal, and caring. It would have been twice the film if there was much more Exorcist style interaction; someone that would tackle this demonic thing head on and go to war with it much sooner than 2 minutes until the end of the film. To me the disappointment of the whole film was that it had so much potential. If they had just trashed most of the pity party scenes, and gone straight to the creatures, it would have been a masterpiece. I'd really like them to get maybe a Mayan theme with space ships involved and then it would have hit the home run. Each little bit of smallness by the story-teller let us down as time continued marching on. The small scene that was deleted when it shows John looking out of the loft window at claw marks should have been left in directly before the scene where a creature was filmed walking up the dark roof.
Poor and sloppy story telling caused me to become extremely disenfranchised very early. Buy chapter 7, I couldn't really even stay in the room long enough to keep my interest, I probably rewound the film 20 times before I got through the final 12th Chapter. I'd just say if you skipped every other chapter, you would probably be better off. I'm really ashamed to have to say this as a film reviewer, however, that appears to be quite indicative of the repetitive story line. The daughter was just not really possessed enough. Costner's character goes to visit this old stranger who he became curious enough to visit named Roger Wayne (James Gammon). Wayne screams at him at the end of that scene and that was about as exciting as the film gets up until that point. He starts screaming while Costner's character is running out the door and says "She's not ever going to be the same, don't you get it?", doesn't really convince me that she's going to get much more disturbing.
The title really causes you to believe that the daughter was supposed to turn into something terrifying. Of course, you automatically know by the tone of the film that it's not going to be "Hellraiser" or "Mid-Night Meat Train" or something from that genre, but it just appears to me that it's really quite close in slowness to Costner's other film "Dragonfly" or M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs". Some have mentioned a few other films that we could say it was a cross between, such as The Ring mixed with The Grudge. Some have even mentioned Blair Witch, but this was too slow to be Blair Witch.
I'll have to say that Ivana Bequero played her part well as did Gattlin Griffith. The story was supposedly trying the tell the story much from the perspective of the struggling family unit. I'd really have thought it would have been nicer to see Costner wind up with the teacher, however, I guess that wasn't part of the script anywhere. Oh well!
Just wanted to mention that this was the last film that John Gammon did before passing at the ripe old age of 70.Read full review...
Good acting, Good Story Line. Recommended
Kevin Costner (Field of Dreams) stars in this thriller about a man who is raising a son and 'New Daughter' Louisa James (Ivana Baquero) in a new house after his wife leaves them. When Ivana first enters the house she follows some foot prints to what she decides will be her new room, then while out exploring the kids come across a strange mound behind the house. After their cat disappears Costner begins to look at the house and yard from a different perspective. The story continues from there and is full of suspense and thrills.
The ending is very surprising and unexpected
Costner gives a good performance in this movie and Baquero is really good. The acting and directing are above average and the movie has a very good plot and story line.
This is a must see for Costner fans and I recommend it for anyone who likes a good suspense or Science fiction story.Read full review...
Uh...Huh?
I found this film to be incredibly slow and uninteresting, though I really hoped it would become another great film to add to my growing collection of fun thrillers. Not at all. I barely got through the entire movie as it seemed to drag on and on without anything happening, no jumps, no surprises, no anything! I was pretty disappointed. I'd recommend renting this first if you're planning on giving it a try.Read full review...