Not bad and really disturbing in parts

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2008)

I'm glad I read here that this is based on a video game, because it all comes to make sense now. I'm still not convinced it's as good have some have said, but I do get it. There are some very difficult scenes to watch, because they are awfully disturbing, and it's definitely not your common or garden slasher movie.
It's a weird movie actually - you do have to keep your brain in gear, which you don't often have to do for this kind of thing. The images are very cleverly thought out and (as I've never played the video game) there's no way of knowing what's going to happen next. The dream versus reality parts are very well done. The acting is on the whole good. Alice Krige is suitably creepy, Laurie Holden does a fab job (though the uniform is very non-standard issue!) Strangely the only one I didn't like is the lead as Rose. She did a good job it has to be said and did nothing wrong really, but there was just something that didn't quite work for me.
In the end it's really a morality tale about the evil of child abuse - and religious abuse for that matter. OK, it's gone to the nth degree, because it is fictional after all, but it's quite strange how the beginning of the film which seems to be a standard horror film turns into a different thing altogether.
So it's definitely a couple of hours well spent, won't please everyone, but does pack a punch beyond the CGI and horror effects. In fact, thinking about it, it would make a good film without any of the horror moments - just a woman looking for her missing child in a strange, unreal place and coming upon these weird religious nuts, who want to burn people they don't like or agree with.
And well done to the people who were the 'monsters'. It wouldn't have worked without those costumes and effects and they deserve the praise.
So enjoy it with an open mind.