Surpassed my expectations- (SPOILER, though slightly subtle)

Rating: Null/10 (3 December 1999)

My expectations weren't too high- I saw a matinee, just wanted it to be mildly entertaining. I had seen BWP a few weeks before and thought it was creepy, but overhyped, and not the scariest movie of all time like everyone said. I had friends who said they almost cried BWP scared them so bad. Well, there's one of many moments in this (there's so many that just made every hair on my body stand on end, my skin crawl, and made me actually gasp- and I can say that movies that only have 1 or 2 moments like that, I can probably only name 10 or so) I won't give the end away, but the moment that starts out with the kid appearing to Cole and whispering excitedly, "Come on, I'll show you where my Dad keeps his gun"- that one moment, to me, was 10 times scarier than all of BWP put together. There were many times where I jumped, and it wasn't just a "fake" jump, it was something clever that I genuinely didn't see coming. As far as The Twist, first of all, I've decided when it's hyped that a movie HAS a twist ending, that's a drag right there, because you-well, I do anyway--spend at least half the time trying to guess the twist. Having seen a hell of a lot of movies, and a hell of a lot of twists, I usually get it 9 times out of 10. (BEGIN MINOR SPOILER) I guessed the twist in Jacob's Ladder, so...and it was already spoiled because I read a review that DIDN"T give a warning, but said, "If you've seen Jacob's Ladder and Angelheart, you'll see this one coming a mile away"(END) I'm pretty much the spoiler queen, it's like heroin or something, maybe 1% of the time I can resist reading them, I don't know what it is. If I had to pick any movie where I could go back and not know the spoiler ahead of time, this would be it. My husband didn't see it coming, and he's pretty clever about guessing them too. Something else I did not see coming was how emotional this movie made me. I had a friend die on me without getting to say goodbye but was over my grieving, and if you've recently experienced the death of someone close to you (especially if you are not finished grieving) then in all seriousness, please think twice before you watch it. During the second to last scene in the car, I surprised myself by starting to cry, hard, and I didn't stop until the credits were partway over (and Bruce Willis is not one of my favorite actors). GOD that scene in the car got to me. Re-reading the screenplay, I realized even more how great it was, and how heartbreaking. There are so many elements that just make your heart wrench. I read the last scenes of the screenplay at home, alone, and had a really good cry, which hasn't happened since I read the screenplay to The Green Mile. Aside from that, again, this movie scared the crap out of me. The premise is very scary but they could have handled it in a way that bungled it up, but they did it just right. Even if you *really* don't like Bruce Willis' acting, and were turned off by the trailer, give it a chance. But don't be surprised if you need to sleep with the light on.