8 on a scale of 10

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 1999)

This is a movie that was only a 7 for the first 30% of the film, a 7.75 for the next 65% of the film and an 11 for the the last 5% of the film. Doing the math.... 7.69.
The acting was brilliant as everyone has said. The kid was remarkable - the best kid performance I can ever remember (casting deserves a lot of credit though, his face is perfect for the required looks). The story is interesting and unique.
There are a few scares, but mostly just an interesting and tense movie..... until the end.
The surprise at the end immediately forces you to rethink the whole movie scene by scene to see if the logic holds up. Overall, it does. Though there are obvious impossibilities along the way, they are easily dismissed (retrospectively) by simply accepting the fact that in the spirit world, not everything operates "normally". So, given that premise, the brilliant ending is both shocking and powerful.
So, why not a higher score? I'm not a fan of horror pictures. I'd rather see Sci-Fi or Romantic Comedy any day.