Creepy but Poorly Paced

Rating: 5/10 (28 September 2010)

A woman living in a dreary old house with her two small children encounters strange phenomena. The film has a very creepy atmosphere, which is good except that it's all atmosphere. Nothing much happens through most of the film and the pacing is excruciatingly slow. One can sense a twist coming at the end, but the end can't come soon enough. When it comes, the twist turns out to be fairly clever, but the payoff is not worth the time spent getting there. Kidman's performance is very mannered initially and over the top later. Flanagan is quite striking as the old maid. Basically, the film has a good premise but the execution leaves much to be desired.