Great horror flick

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2011)

I saw the screening in NYC last week as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The lack of gore and elimination of "fake scares" adds to the boding sense of doom. I think that the masses are going to like this movie, it's well done. The haunting concept here is different and it's refreshing. I was scared during the movie and some of the scenes still give me the shivers. It's easier in many ways (for me at least) to dismiss over the top gore versus the buildup of increasingly scary concepts in this film.
Lin Shaye is fantastic and very effective in her role. I thought that Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne were excellent as well. As pointed out above, the script does not explain every aspect of why the characters do what they do (e.g. why does Patrick's character start working late and stay away from home?) but it seemed obvious enough to me. The only thing that confused me was the introduction (or lack thereof) of Patrick's character's mother, Barbara Hershey. It becomes clearer later in the movie that she is Patrick's mother so this is a minor nitpick in my mind.
Congrats on a refreshing take of a classic horror theme.