Not as good as everyone makes out

Rating: 2/10 (29 May 2015)

I watched this film last night for the first time and the be honest was thoroughly disappointed.
The reviews and 'scores' had me anticipating a classic. What I got was a film that was in my opinion so badly acted that it was actually funny in places. The storyline was so butchered that it frequently failed to make sense (with random ghosts popping up all over the place with no 'back story'), and was so slow and boring that I really could not understand what all the fuss had been about. Suddenly I could understand why Stephen King had reputedly been so annoyed by the movie - it would certainly have put me off reading any of his books had I not read any previously!
In my view the film's only redeeming factor was its musical score, which was indeed a bit spooky and tension building - but it was never going to be sufficient on its own to rescue the film entirely. It may well have been ground breaking in its time (but I don't feel qualified to pass judgement upon that), but it left me completely cold in 2015 - and not even vaguely 'concerned', let alone 'scared'!
I honestly thought the reviews must have been for a different version, as this turned out to be one of the worst films that I have ever watched, and believe me I have seen some rubbish!