Another over-hyped non-scary horror

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2011)

I could tell from the opening credits that James Wan was copying the style of 'The Evil Dead' here. In certain places he also seemed to be copying Kubrick's eerie style as used in 'The Shining'. I saw one scene reminiscent of the climax to Nick Roeg's 'Don't Look Now'. The first half of the film was pretty good. It built up nicely as the threats to the family increased. The baby monitor with the threatening noises on it was one of the few frightening scenes. The intruder in the bedroom was just daft, as was the dwarf running around the house. The demon character was like a Mexican wrestler or Darth Maul from Star Wars. The bit where the dad goes into The Further and back into the house was plain daft. The ending was poor as well. Overall the material was there to deliver a really good horror. However, it just came across as confused. I don't think that it's a good sign when horror films are PG-13. Takes a very skilled director to create scares within those confines.