An inflated Twilight Zone episode

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2002)

From the start I was irritated by Nicole Kidman's performance as the lead character in this. When she doesn't have some definite emotion to convey, like anger or terror, e.g. in a plot set-up scene, she can't carry it off. Moreover, she has to shoulder a great deal of the movie by herself, and I felt her pain a bit -- it looks like hard work.
It's not all bad however. The gimmick of the light sensitive children provides some embellishment and amusing filler. And it does have some creepy, spine tingling moments. The two children and the rest of the supporting cast give impressive performances.
This as a haunted house/ghost story with only one arrow in its quiver. It's set in the 40's, and reminds one of the pulp magazines filled with such stuff around that time. It has that lurid, somewhat tasteless feel of a story scribbled out at 2 cents a word.