horror not totally fun or great but compellingly disturbing

Rating: 6/10 (20 March 2003)

I just saw this film. I was quite impressed until thinking about how some of the elements of the film didn't add up. Why was Naomi Watts a bottle blond? Why were the "scary" people dark-haired with everyone else in between? It seemed contrived, with badly bleached and dyed hair. That was really ugly, black hair I was seeing. I have hair that color, and it's not that ugly. That bothered me. The worst thing that bothered me was the beginning of the movie. The teenagers had banal dialogue. It seemed like it would be one silly thrill after another. The beginning of the movie seemed like it belonged on a home video. It began in a rather awkward way. I'm used to being lured into a movie, just a little.
The hair color was pretty annoying. And the young boy under Naomi Watts charge most of the time was spooky. The kid was innocent and good, yet scary? I don't get it. But I definitely did not want some sensitive Haley Joel Osmet. So, overall, I didn't get what I wanted, no matter if the kid was different.
Then there was the video. Watts' character is disturbed, but not her video geek friend? Not convincing that the video is horribly seductively scary. And the whole thing about the drawings. Too Sixth Sense. And the teacher's comment about the cousin being dead a week ago and not three days ago. What was the point of that?
Here is what I did like. I was quite disturbed the whole film. I kept getting jerked around to believe different things, the way the characters would. And my eyes were big as saucers by the end of the movie as if I had watched the disturbing video and was about to die myself. I didn't scream once, but can say I had a deep soul horror, the kind that says, oh my, I hope not, really. The black and white dull cinematography was great. The unexplained yet, to me, logical parts of the plot I loved. To me, when it worked, the unexplained was the wonderfully, deeply understood.
I loved how the movie commented on how things spread in a community by the use of curiosity and mystery. There was no cover or label for the bad video.
I enjoyed the image of the tree. I was not disturbed by the mirrors. The well was very Old World looking, therefore quite cursed looking, as if Britain, land of the legend and the paranormal was about to invade the U.S.
I found the movie flawed, yet compelling to watch. It was not what you call seamless, but jerky for mystery, thrills, and some disturbing thoughts that are keeping the lights on tonight.
My rating: 3/5 (for overall disturbing effect on me)
SPOILER AHEAD: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE
I hated the end. We were supposed to draw conclusions from the dialogue between Watts' character and little scary boy? I had no idea what they meant. Did they go evil? What would they do with the copy of the tape? What about the showing of the dark-haired girl going up the lift after Watts' character sees her friend is horrifically and unexpectedly dead? Did that mean knowledge? Did blond mean no knowledge or innocence and dark hair mean knowledge? That didn't even hold up the whole film. And I didn't like the video girl stepping out of the screen. Please kill me and get it over with, like the poor characters in the movie. That is so contrived, so bottle-blond. And how do I believe that the scary little boy would aid his mother in learning about the poor poor dead girl when he knew she was evil all along if he was actually good though weird? Mind tricks? Come on.