A good low-budget film but little else

Rating: 6/10 (20 October 2009)

This is, for the amount of money spent on its production, a great first effort for a filmmaker. I hope that Oren Peli will go on to make better films, and the success of this feature makes it certain that he will go on to bigger and better things. With that being said, I can truthfully say that I was somewhat disappointed in that the film was really quite predictable. The possession angle could be seen coming for miles- not just with the pictures of the exorcism on the website that the characters view, but also with the footage of Katie sleepwalking. Nothing about the film is really groundbreaking or innovative, although it does induce a pervasive sense of dread that just manages to save it. The characters are very realistic- i.e. two typical suburban American dumb asses. The helplessness exhibited by Katie,in my opinion, makes her actually less sympathetic because she can't stand up to her idiotic boyfriend. Again, a decent beginning- let's see what Peli does next...