A solid, professional effort but not quite there.

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2013)

It feels bad in a way to criticise this film because it is trying so hard to be good. However the fact is that it just doesn't come together in a way which genuinely taps into our fears and releases them. Yes, there are crashes and jumps that startle, but one is never drawn in deeper.
It's a pity because there are a couple of good performances (Lili Taylor stands out) and it's certainly photographed well. I think it is the direction that is a bit off. It feels more like a paint-by-numbers approach to the genre than someone who is genuinely conveying what makes him personally afraid. (I don't think I've ever seen a film with more people walking backwards into the open frame behind them.)
So does it work for a Saturday night popcorn-jumper with the right audience? Sure. It will put the receptive viewer through the standard paces, and he or she will likely leave satisfied. But it's nothing that will have you starting at shadows when you go to bed that night.