Have faith, and all will be revealed

Rating: 7/10 (22 April 2006)

This is a great movie for easily-scared movie goers looking for a graphic, almost mindless, thrill. I promise you, the only reason I'm still awake right now (4:30 am) is because the gripping visuals and eerie soundtrack are playing in my head once again. While not a plot-driven movie at all, this film achieves a skin-crawling involuntary scream fest, or for those weak stomached like myself, a sense of regret when it's over because I have once again memorized the palm of my hand during the goriest scenes.
Gore? Yes.
This is a somewhat shallow story of a mother frantically searching for her sleep-walking daughter in a mindlessly evil "world". It progresses to seem like it is faith-based, with symbols, prayers and an ominous church playing significant roles. After being chased for about an hour by previously unimaginable, monstrous remnants of reality, all is revealed to be the sick, twisted workings of a fearful, sexually-molested, persecuted 9-year-old girl who somehow grows up to exact a gory revenge on the town that shunned and executed her. And what a revenge she exacted. Every one she ever came into contact with suffers in her 30-year-long (so far) hellish nightmare, as was promised to her by the Reaper during the last moments of her semi-toasted suffering. In the words of the diminutive Yoda: Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hatred becomes Suffering. Deep.
There are a lot of unanswered questions once the fade to black actually becomes black. Like, why did the writer have the mother end up in someone else's hellish world after she seemingly died? Why not just a dream or a subconscious lapse? Who is Cybil? And, why didn't we hear about what the father discovered? Most importantly, why is this girl's nightmare so important? Maybe that's something the video game fans would know, but I'm not one of them.
The last few "Sixth Sense"-reminiscent minutes of this movie had many interpretations for my fellow movie-goers, but I walked out of the theatre, pale-skinned and biting my nails, believing that misguided faith is the root of all evil.