You've got to be kidding me.

Rating: 5/10 (19 June 2008)

While this was definitely not the worst horror film (or "psychological thriller", as some have erroneously dubbed it) I've ever seen, it most certainly is not worthy of "scariest film ever" status. It's creepy and strange, but also totally hokey and full of plot holes. This is basically a teenage-level horror film that's pretending to be much more. It's an insult to the viewer's intelligence, as well as actual psychological thrillers like pretty much any Hitchcock, or more recently "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others." My specific critiques are given below.
*SPOILERS AHEAD* Firstly, the whole phone call thing. Lame. That was so unnecessary and was just plain silly. HOKEY. How many other scary movies did that plot point steal from? Creative.
Second, the girl crawling out of the television. I seriously laughed out loud. That was supposed to be the scariest thing we've seen in a movie since "The Shining"? Please. It would have been much scarier if the people watching the video had gotten sucked into it.
Third, the marbles forming in the shape of the arrow. Also laughed out loud there.
Finally, and I think this was the main weakness of the movie. WHAT was Samara's motivation??? Up until the "twist", it at least seemed plausible that she was trying to be freed from her "dark place." But when it's revealed that she'd been hurting people *before* that and her fall into the well was the result, not the cause, of her misdeeds, everything just unravels. The whole POINT of the psychological thriller is to reveal *why* the person is doing what they're doing. They hinted that the circumstances around her birth were suspicious-- why couldn't they carry that out a bit-- was she the spawn of Satan? A demon? Was she conceived by some voodoo curse? For cryin' out loud, give us something to work with. The whole "Evil for evil's sake" is a cop out and totally uninteresting.
I'd give it a 5 out of 10.