Very well done but depressing as hell

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2010)

This movie is one of those films that I'd highly recommend that people see once and then never see ever again. It all starts out innocently enough with some standard horror movie clichés, some other film references and even a feeling of campy tension. Then things start to go downhill immediately. Even after the downhill slide starts, I was still on board, thinking (hoping) there'd be at least a somewhat happy ending. When Marcia Gay Harden's character is observed "talking to god" in the bathroom, one gets the sense that this won't be a regular scary film. By the time the shopkeeper utters the phrase "Welcome to Sesame Street. The word of the day is exculpation" I knew this was way different than what I'd hoped. It all continues on in a gory but yet still somewhat entertaining direction, then somewhere along the way this movie just gets grim. I'm skipping a lot of detail, but believe me this is a good thing. By the end of this film, your hands won't be in the popcorn anymore, and you'll have some serious questions about why you decided to sit through this film at all..
This film gave me bad dreams for a couple of weeks. So in a way, I guess it's a truly scary film. Be warned, however: It is bleak. Which probably won't sink in for most people until the last 3 minutes of the movie, by which time it will be too late to forget what you've seen. A very, very well done, but incredibly depressing and grim film.