Knowing there is a twist is knowing too much

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 1999)

Okay, so you're in the reviews section of IMDb, so that means that you are a bit of a film buff, so by this time, even if you haven't seen the movie, you have already read somewhere that there is a huge twist at the end, so I'm not spoiling it to you by telling you "there is a twist", am I?
Well, the trouble is, I am. European audiences have heard about the success of this movie in the States, and have heard about there being a twist, so most of us see it expecting it to come. And if you expect it, it is really quite obvious and easy to figure out long before it happens, there are many hints (put there so that everything makes sense at the end, of course). And it's not even such an original idea, we've seen similar things in other famous movies (which I won't mention so as not to give away too much). The whole movie relies very much on this final revelation, and until it comes, it just doesn't have anything consistent to say, there is never any real feeling of menace, which surely is the worst that can happen to a horror film(I do think, though, that the performances are quite decent, especially Osment's, given the difficulty of his role. But the pace could certainly be better). So if you see it without being surprised by the ending, the whole thing doesn't seem so impressive. A bit empty really. OK, but nothing extraordinary. I'd say 6.5 out of 10.