Not perfect, but the images are wonderful and it is thick with atmosphere.

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2006)

I have a hard time watching horror films. I'm a pushover. I was scared in "Gremlins". I did want to watch this because I enjoyed Christophe Gans's and Roger Avary's previous work.
There are some clunky parts. Reassuring each other it's going to be all right seems like denial in the face of reality, though I could also interpret it as an agnostic's replacement for prayer during desperate times. The exposition before the final finish seems like it was dropped like a lead weight on that part of the plot because Avary couldn't find anywhere else to put it.
Surprisingly, the husband doesn't seem out of place for me. It's a tease to me, when he could feel her in that other dimension, like a red herring that there could be some hope. Plus the ending wouldn't mean the same way, both of them at the same place but vaguely aware that they are finally together.
I like the leads, Mitchell, Bean and Krige, who has to go through pages of lines as the fanatic head of the cult. My fave is Holden, the cop, because she clearly sees she's in over her head and she doesn't have a daughter at stake. I would have left that crazy mother on her own (that would leave me with...living with that cult the rest of my life, or burning at the stake anyway.) What I do like about the movie is the atmosphere. Especially in the first half, when we understood nothing yet, the buildup was excruciating. It reminds me of Dario Argento's "Suspiria", especially the beginning when a girl goes from the airport to her dorm, NOTHING happened but the buildup was incredible.
The nice thing about the second half is there are little plot points which pay off, though not everything is explained and the ending is suitably Japanese (they don't believe in unambivalent endings). Sometimes I don't like things wrapped up in neat packages.
Horror these past twelve months have been people being tortured (Hostel, Hills Have Eyes remake, Wolf Creek), so this multidimensional/scifi/supernatural shtick is a welcome change. I'll let it steep and maybe I'll raise the rating at a later date.