A Fantastic Mood Piece--Though certainly not for everyone

Rating: 9/10 (21 November 2007)

This film excels in several areas: first off, Darabont creates some of the most compelling tension I have ever seen sustained in film by building a brooding sense of nihilistic doom that cuts deep into the viewer's ideologies. Second, while this is certainly not a monster movie in any sense of the phrase's colloquial usage, it brilliantly manages to juxtapose thoroughly preternatural events without compromising the perceived realism of the charactersa feat that is so rarely accomplished in Hollywood Darabont deserves accolades in full chorus. This film is not like the Shawshank Redemption, or even the Green Mile, but much more like Pan's Labyrinth in the sense that it is a horror movie for adults: it doesn't have the cheap thrills of Sam Raimi schlock and I can't imagine that the film's pace or ending will be particularly satisfying to those with short attention spans or who demand American-styled formulaic plots. My wife and I are huge horror buffs, and we both stunned by this film; my jaw literally dropped and my wife began to sob. The film hits you on a visceral level, and I am sure many people will end up hating it for this very reasonit is by no means a "date movie." I don't want to sound too pedantic, but I would not recommend this movie to everyone; though it is an absolutely fantastic film, it requires some psychological preparation on the part of the viewer. However, for those who are ready for it, this is one of the new masterpieces of intellectual horror.