Original

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2010)

While not perfect, this is an amazing film. This is what you get when people with enthusiasm and a new concept get the opportunity to put something together. With few exceptions, this abandons all clichés. The ambiguity is astonishing, and this could be viewed as a metaphor for any number of things. This uses the audience's imagination in a way too seldom seen since the likes of Hitchcock. While the acting(apart from some shining moments and the performance of Hewlett) is not all great(and when you take into consideration how little they had to work with, they're not bad), the characters are incredibly well-written, credible and varied. The horror is almost purely psychological, and the personalities and humanity is also the source of the drama. Dialog has occasional blunders of lines, but beyond that, it's natural, with depth and even philosophy that is delivered without being preachy or pretentious. The mood and atmosphere, gritty, dark, paranoid and claustrophobic, has been imitated, not matched, since the release of this. There is an underlying tension throughout this, and it is immensely exciting. It breaks up the suspense with light-hearted bits here and there, and this walks that balance beautifully. FX are sufficiently well-done, and they are used as a tool, never taking over. The editing and cinematography are nicely done, at times experimental, and at no point flashy. This is about subtlety and, save for the traps, simplicity, and yet it is rather creative and different. The sound design is well-done, and the music is minimalistic, both as far composition and use. This is not for everyone. It is not straightforward, Hollywood or mainstream. The ending, or a portion of it, is potentially a letdown to an extent. With a running time of about 90 minutes, this is not so long that the setting grates on your nerves. There is infrequent strong language, a tad of sexual material, a lot of disturbing content and a limited amount of blood, violence and gore in this. The DVD comes with an interesting and fun commentary track by the director, one of the writers and one actor, David, three really short deleted scenes, a theatrical trailer and photo galleries with storyboards and production art. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys good, scary, mysterious science fiction. 8/10