Terrifyingly Great

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2009)

I can see right off the bat why people claim this to be "boring and repetitive". It isn't a gory movie that is aimed to only physically make you flinch at what's showing on the screen. It is playing for a more observant audience, targeting them using senses you can't avoid. You can try all you want to block the sound, but the only way is to leave the theater (which many choose to do). It makes you flinch mentally, as well as often jumping out of your seat, because not once do you literally see the demon. More in-depth clues are used to reveal it's presence. The camera cuts to a night scene around 3 in the morning. Katie and Micah are sleeping soundly in their bed. You feel the suspense as the creepy background sound comes over the speakers, signaling something bad is about to happen, but you have no idea what. The majority of the theater that doesn't find this movie a complete joke is holding their breathe, waiting for something to happen. It is dead silent. You then hear the footprints approaching the bed. You see a sleeping Katie being pulled to the hardwood floor, but it doesn't hit you until you hear her helpless shrieks only growing louder as she is dragged farther away from the camera. It's truly terrifying and emotionally disturbing on many different levels. A lot of the reason behind this is because the film has you indecisive as to whether it's fiction or a real home video. The actors are incredibly realistic. They don't appear to be playing a character, but to be strictly themselves. The raw emotion from the two is as if there were no camera at all. The basic premise of the movie itself is ordinary, if not a tad cliché. The film itself is very realistic on account of the acting , the intense imagery, and the utterly believable special effects, especially given the tiny budget.