I really wanted to like this but...

Rating: 3/10 (24 April 2006)

I have to start by saying that I'm a fan of the games, I'm also quite forgiving of dodgy horror flicks and was looking forward to seeing this film. I even convinced my friend who's not exactly a horror fan to come and see it with me. I'm not sure that she (or even I) will trust my judgment ever again!
I found it assumed too much prior knowledge about the games to cover over the poor writing, the characters didn't seem to interact with each other in a normal way or appear overly surprised by what was happening around them, and the dialogue has to be some of the worst I've heard in a long time! I can't believe this is the same Roger Avary who worked with Quentin Tarantino!?! OK, so it's probably quite faithful to the games and it certainly looked the part but playing a video game is a different experience to watching a film - you can't just do a straight "conversion" otherwise you get the same effect that you might get from simply watching someone else playing and this is exactly what I felt here. It could have been so much better but it was just badly put together and far too long.
I think the amount of people in the cinema who walked out way before it ended sums up for me quite how poor this film was. I know the fanboys aren't going to like my opinions but I'm sorry, there isn't any hidden depth or meaning to this film, it's just plain ropey!