Amazing, terrifying... if you watched it.

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2009)

First off - I have a bit of an axe to grind here. I'm old enough to have seen enough reactions to movies in every genre and there's one thing in common with certain people who review books, music and movies and give them excessively poor reviews; they are generally reviewing something they didn't actually experience.
If you don't surrender yourself to a horror movie, or suspend belief of some sort during it, you're not going to be scared. Anyone can half watch a horror movie and not get scared by it. If you are watching a horror movie trying to satisfy some macho egoistic urge to prove you 'aren't scared by the "scariest movie ever"' then you aren't going to be scared. If you half watch while making snarky remarks with your friend whenever a 'scary' scene comes (and they're usually very easy to predict with PA given the cues) then you won't be scared. If you are Jim talking to your friend Steve while watching the movie then you won't be so scared because you're just Jim talking to Steve about a movie that's on. However, if you become Micah and Katie and for the most part erase your own identity while watching the movie you WILL most likely be very scared, very scared. Especially if you've had somewhat similar experiences in your real life. You'd be scared in real life if you were in their situation.. very scared. If you can believe in a book's characters and become them, you will be much more effected by their tribulations, plights and joys then if you're just read words on a page, far removed from the actual story. If I wash dishes and carry on a conversation while a song I've never heard is playing, I'm very unlikely to enjoy the song. If I sit in a dim room with headphones on all alone, I'm much more likely to enjoy the song. At the very least I can put myself in the place of the songwriters, or journey much further into the vibe or feeling of the song. I can see the song for itself and movies are no different.
So it's not an amazing feat to watch this movie and not get scared.. if anything the opposite is true. It's much easier to disassociate yourself. If you are able to surrender yourself to the movie and still find it boring and give it a bad review then that's fine. But if you're like every Jim and Steve I've sat beside in a movie theatre, I have no respect for your review and think it should be discredited, because Jim and Steve don't watch movies.