The best horror film ever...

Rating: 10/10 (17 November 2004)

This movie is truly excellent.
I understand where people are coming from who don't find it scary - or even find it amusing (although thats probably just being contrary).
Sadly the shallow World we live in today, and the graphic horrors on our screen in everyday newsreels has made people less imaginative and less prone to actually examining their actual feelings.
Everything happens a warp speed, is noisy and so "in your face" that many people today don't actually realize what it is like to have to "imagine" things and many don't have time to look deeper than the surface of their own emotions.
Some of the scariest stories I ever read are ghost stories by M R James - not fast paced, not gory, but genuinely scary and thought provoking. Sadly modern day living doesn't ask people to think much at all.
I also think that - as a parent - the movie raises disturbing images that wouldn't be appreciated by a younger person or someone without children of their own.
It has become "trendy" to scoff at this film and claim it didn't frighten, but it is a powerful film nonetheless.
I think the power lies in it's subliminal, disturbing message and imagery. It will certainly affect people in different ways - but rest assured those with a real imagination and with an enquring mind will find this film genuinely uncomfortable.
You wouldn't expect it to affect everyone the same, especially from different eras, but the message it puts across is disturbing - perhaps those who don't find it so are just not hearing the message - and thats a shame, and their loss.