Good fun but not very scary

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2011)

I was expecting to be absolutely terrified by this film after reading many of the reviews on here. I am a huge horror fan and love to be scared (love eerie films such as the original Grudge, The Ring, The Others, Drag Me to Hell) and love being made to jump, so from that point of view I was very disappointed by this film.
I actually found the film pretty enjoyable, good fun and very amusing but not sure that was entirely the intention of the film makers... The acting was fairly ropey, especially from Patrick Wilson who I've not seen in anything else so not sure if he's a sound actor usually?? I love Rose Byrne and she certainly did her best with the material, but why do characters in horror films always act in such an unrealistic and nonsensical way??!! Would you be able to nod off to sleep quite happily on your own the night after witnessing very obvious signs of a haunting in your house?? I sure wouldn't!!
My husband and I are normally both very jumpy but neither of us jumped very much at all during this film. I did feel that the tension was built up quite well and loved the music but felt that the scares never really came to anything!! Maybe if I'd watched it at home on my own at night it would've seemed scary, but in the cinema surrounded by other people I wasn't remotely scared! I thought the story line was fairly good and it did maintain my interest but it just wasn't the scare fest I thought it would be!