Disappointing, incomplete

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2004)

This movie would have profited by being much shorter. Nicole Kidman spent so much time running around, opening and closing doors that any interest I had in the story had pretty well faded by the time things started happening. It struggled to find its genre - is it a horror story, a mystery, a thriller - I certainly can't work out?
Everything - the setting - the fog - the mystery servants promised excitement - instead it only delivered a few tingles. And so many unanswered questions. Why did the husband return? Was he alive or dead? Why were there only the graves of the three servants on the property - surely someone else was buried there? If all the "other people" were in the house - why did the children only see the little boy? No - if you are going to do something similar to this,you have to satisfactorily tie off the ends - and at least make an effort to give reasons for things that occur.
Nicole Kidman was frenetic and annoying (I suppose she was meant to be that way, but it didn't make for empathy with her and her plight!). The 2 children were excellent, particularly the girl - they at least were believable. The husband looked like the walking dead (maybe that was the point - did I miss it?). What a disappointment this movie was to me - I had heard so much about it and expected more.