Leaves you waiting for a twist at the end which never arrives.

Rating: 3/10 (16 December 2001)

I went into this movie with high hopes, having read nothing but praise for a horror movie going back to the basic belief that the true scares come from something that you don't see rather than something you do. And to an extent, this movie delivers.
However, the premise is let down by terrible acting (especially the children), and a script that seems to be setting you up for a surprise ending which never arrives. It contains many of what I thought were red herrings, leading you away from its true finale, but they were simply pointers to where the movie was taking you.
Another recent movie to do this was The Sixth Sense. Where that movie differs was the fact even if you did guess the ending, the characters, acting and story were all top notch, so the entire movie didn't just rely on one twist.
And the worst crime of all for a horror movie: the characters were all so unlikeable and annoying that you really did want to see them suffer. You can't be scared for someone if you don't identify with them.
This sort of movie has been done a number of times, and usually with more success. At least it wasn't a special effects extravaganza like The Haunting. That's the only thing it has going for it.
3 / 10 - I have seen worse.