Worth a watch

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2011)

Expecting an old fashion 'style' haunted house movie and that's what the first half was - great suspense, fabulous score and lots of 'jumpy' moments. The second half becomes more 'fantasy' horror with ghouls more than ghosts but in places it's just as scary playing to fears with dolls and puppets. There are also a few 'nods' to Saw as this film shares James Wan as director so look out for those. The end is probably a little bit drawn out (maybe 10 minutes longer than necessary) but the final scene is actually quite good. I didn't leave feeling disappointed although I would've preferred more 'haunted' and less 'demons'. The performances were good and solid, particularly from Patrick Wilson (underrated in my opinion) and Rose Byrne as well as the from the kids. It's worth a watch, and was pretty well received from the 3 out of 4 of us who went today.