Middle of the road

Rating: 5/10 (29 January 2007)

Maybe I'm getting old and pining for the good 'ol days of horror movies, but I couldn't really see why this one got high marks. Well, it did have good production value (acting, directing, effects). But I thought it was mostly just another monster-and-gore flick. While these elements can be part of a good horror movie, in my opinion they shouldn't be the backbone of one. Personally I want an atmospheric, clever movie where hope and dread slowly circle each other; one which has interesting turns and shifts ; which slowly reveals knowledge that is both awesome and terrible. Movies that just go for a lot of running and screaming don't often fall into that category. Maybe the problem for me is that I wish Horror had sub categories: Weird, Gore, Poe-Ish, etc. But since it doesn't seem to, I have to rate all these in one category. And Gore to me rarely stacks compared to the rest.