If you'd added the dialogue from the castle scene in Shrek, this movie might have approached something you could call "scary".

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2002)

The most accurate explenative which springs to mind when I ponder the 101 minutes I wasted watching this movie is "crap". Now, before I get flamed into the next world, I should qualify this statement by first saying that a) I didn't really want to see this movie to begin with b) horror films aren't really what I go for (and when I do I expect to actually be scared by them) and c) there are way too many people who've posted comments here saying that this is a "superb/brilliant/must see" movie (what drugs were they on?).
That said, and I'm trying to be objective here (and believe that I have a some what educated eye when it comes to judging movies), this movie is like a stunning study piece done by some one in training in the classical arts, which then proceeds to receive a poor to average mark from the teacher because while the technical execution is good to excellent, the interpretation/emotional aspect of it is near non-existant.
The location manager and the lighting people should be complimented for their achievements (cool house and realistic lighting - considering the curtains were drawn most of the time), the special effects guys should get an award for their ability to keep a thick blanket of fog directly in front of the camera for the duration of the movie (in all outside shots - although it might have been an improvement had they done the same for the inside shots) and the screen play writer should be made to sit and watch episodes of Barney for two weeks (the lowest form of material that raises a blip on the entertainment-o-meter).
There are exactly two scary parts in this movie (totalling about 2 seconds of movie time), the rest of the time is spent focusing on a fruit loop of a mother who spends her time locking and unlocking doors, drawing curtains and lighting oil lamps (the annoyance factor of which tends to dampen any sense of fear that the director tries to build up).
As a friend of mine said, if this film were to end up as a DivX/VCD download somewhere (a cruel waste of hard drive space), it could most probably be compressed so much, due to the lack of action and change in scenery, that it could most probably fit on a 1.44MB stiffy disk.