Good acting, bad directing

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2010)

This movie could have been so much better. The ingredients were there -- certainly when it comes to the acting. The actors fleshed out their parts well and made us care about their characters. Isabelle Fuhrman was brilliant conveying intelligent, but naive child then progressing to the manipulative sociopath to the monster at the end.
The problem was the directing and the choices made in camera-work and background music. From the very first scene it was clear that the director opted for the sledgehammer-subtle approach. Even the most innocuous scenes were laden with creepy fade-ins, ominous camera angles and GOTCHA music. I was getting sick of the "shock" of opening a refrigerator or looking in the medicine cabinet.
We KNOW it's a horror movie, we don't need to be beaten over the head with it! Couldn't the presentation been more natural instead? Apparently those who produced this film didn't think the audience could handle that kind of subtlety. When something bad was actually happening, we were too desensitized by fake shock moments that came in between.
And the pat horror-movie climax in which the monster is thought vanquished but repeatedly coming back to life was as trite as it was unnecessary.
What a waste of talent. Kudos to Isabelle Fuhrman for her performance; it should give her the flexibility to opt for better scripts and directors for her next project.