Devolves into Mass Manipulation

Rating: 5/10 (24 July 2009)

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.
First of all lets get the acting out of the way. Its superb. From all.
And that ends the positivity of this review.
This film had so much potential and it uses only about half of it. The rest is stuff we've seen before, like the use of a mirror to shock us and the person using it. The fake out: The music rises and we expect someone with an axe around the corner and wham! no one there. In fact this was way overused.
Some neat surprises. Some neat twists. And that I fear is where the movie takes a dump. No one from this point on acts realistically. The deaf youngest daughter when we first meet her is hand signing like crazy. She can talk your eyes out. Then when we need her to "speak"...nothing.
The husband doesn't believe for a second that his family is in danger and when all the evidence piles up, he doesn't blame the crazy girl, no..its all the wife's fault. And then when you think the husband can't be more deceived he takes the murderous girl home with him and his daughter. Course, he pays the price for that.
And of course, to add to the frenetic pace that eventually overwhelms the film, the camera man gets the serious shakes and we are never allowed to fully see the girl/woman in full or completely.
The movie had nothing but potential, but like many others like it treads very familiar ground, and when trying to turn down a path few have tried, it makes the victims act in ways that seem ridiculous.
And finally, the director still saw the need to have a smoking scene. Oh, how shamelessly the tobacco companies make deposits into the pockets of producers and directors. And how sad.