The Best Psychological Horror Of The Decade

Rating: 9/10 (5 June 2004)

Before deciding to right this review, i read the reviews on Amazon and on the IMDb. After reading these, I got so wound up about people saying that this film is not scary or is boring that i wrote this. This IS a horror film, granted not an obviously scary film or a slasher film. If you like films like Friday 13th then the chances are you won't like this. This is a very intelligent film and granted very slow, however this enhances the tension and the ambiance of the film.
The acting is near perfect with Kidman putting on a fantastic performance. However for me Flanagan is the stand out star. She is both genuine yet creepy at the same time.
Another reason why this film is so clever is that it is completely unreliant on special effects which is a very pleasing to see, and the isolation the character feels is emphasized by the location on a Gothic country house on Jersey.
There are only a handful of characters which is another pleasing sight so you are not always trying to remember names. The children are very well acted although the boy has a tendency to be rather annoying especially in the last two scenes. You genuinely felt empathy for the characters and you cared about them unlike in recent films.
As for the twist at the end, anyone who says they predicted the twist in the first twenty minutes, is lying. The ending is truly surprising and appropriate.I love this film and the DVD is one of my favourite in my collection. The film has replay value but is best watched when its dark. Happy Viewing