Ultimately disappointing

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2000)

I was probably one of the handful of the people that totally missed this film theatrically and still managed to not hear the "secret", but I was ultimately disappointed when I did finally see the film.
The "secret" was so painfully obvious in the first twenty minutes that once I had guessed it the rest of the film was simply a game of seeing if what I was watching confirmed it....and inevitably it did.

I was also confused about so much effort being put into establishing the presence of spirits in the child's apartment, but when the plot was expanded to him 'listening' to them he instead seeks out another, entirely new character. What did the battered wife or the suicidal boy have to say, and other than to jump out and go "Boo!" what purpose did they serve?
It is still an entertaining, well made, and worthwhile film, but highly overrated.