What a let-down...

Rating: 4/10 (16 December 2012)

And once again, the positive ratings here on IMDb tricks me into watching a new over-hyped horror movie that doesn't contribute with anything original or refreshing at all.
It's the typical family moves into house, the house is haunted, horrible stuff happens and the family has to leave-plot, now with Ethan Hawke as the main character. Hawkes performance is really great and convincing, as well as the young cop.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the movie's build up. It started off not too slow nor too fast and it introduced the movie's plot in a interesting way that made me curious about what's going on. The first appearance you see of the antagonist was really eerie and creepy, and he actually looked demonic and non-human. But sadly as the movie went on, he started looking more and more like an human and I got annoyed at how I only could think of him as Mick Thomson of Slipknot in the end.
Something I found really unnecessary in this movie was the nagging between the wife and the husband. Seriously, they went from caring and loving to yell-the-crap-out-of-each other from scene to scene. I have of course seen that kind of couple in movies before, but this time around, it just felt unrealistic and lazily written.
But what about the horror? Is the movie scary? No, not really. It does have jump scares, several cliché-ridden jumps scares that you know are coming but you twitch anyway because the sudden sound of "hoogabooga!" penetrates your ears. So if jump scares is your definition of scary, then yes, you will most likely find this movie very scary.
On a finale note, the ending must be one of the most boring horror twists I've seen in a long time. Something that started off really intriguing became the same disappointing mediocre effort we're already getting forced down our throats today.