A Squandered Opportunity

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2009)

A well made film that benefits from the believable acting of the entire cast; especially the lead actress who elegantly held the entire film together with a restrained and effective performance that endeared her to the viewer.
The lovely location did not hurt either; however..
As a horror or ghost film I did not find that it worked and I also sometimes had the impression that it was originally a 3-part serial that had been put together as a film.
Essentially, the film was not creepy or atmospheric enough to set my spine a-tingling as a ghost film nor did it deliver enough shocks or 'gore' as a horror film (I am ignoring the one scene with the social worker, but that has been done may times before; though I did feel queasy at the thought of the mouth-to-mouth).
The film sets up scenes where waves of tension should be crashing over the viewer (e.g. the medium); but any tension or expectation ebbs away with the low key approach taken, allowing the film to drift gently along for another 20-minutes of nothing really happening. The director should perhaps have watched similar films, e.g. 'The Innocents', to get an idea on how to generate mounting fright and spine-tingling tension, as he certainly had the actors to achieve this.
The whole film was just too flat to be frightening and I am glad I watched in on DVD at home rather than at the cinema as I had to curb my impatience sometimes with a cup of tea. Still it is interesting how different people react to films; some found this film frightening and others found it little more than a quirky thriller or mystery. Perhaps the ones who found it frightening have more imagination (I do not really mean that!).