Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (27 July 2003)

CONTAINS SPOILERS
I had heard some rather good things about this movie, and was kind of looking forward to finally seeing it, but unfortunately it turned out to be a rather big disappointment.
I was looking for a clever thriller, but instead I got a slightly above average slasher movie (group of teens gets killed by maniac, you know the drill). OK, the "maniac" in this case is intangible (it's none other than "Death" in person) but it's still a movie about a group of kids getting slaughtered in strange ways.
In fact, the entire movie amounts to little more than a series of freak accidents that are so unlikely and exaggerated that I couldn't help but laugh during a large number of them. The line "don't move" the main character says to his teacher while she's bleeding to death, pinned to the ground by a very large stake knife was absolutely hilarious! It's not like she CAN actually go anywhere, is it?
I also found the plot behind the accidents (some people have cheated Death and now Death wants his revenge) to be more absurd than interesting or mystical. If Death really wanted them dead so eagerly, I'm sure he could come up with something a little less absurd than this.

Also, the lead actor is pretty unconvincing. He reminds be of the runner-up in the Dutch version of "American Idol" and is equally untalented. The rest of the acting is passable but that's about it.
All in all, I found this to be a rather hollow movie. It's reasonably original, but it's definitely more a slasher movie than a really good thriller like "Sixth Sense".
*1/2 out of **** stars