Shyamalan bores us this time around.

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2007)

A cross between Jane Austen and Stephen King, and this is not meant as a compliment. I have no idea why Shyamalan chose to make this movie so drawn out and dull in the first hour. For most of the movie this is almost your standard TV soap fare with just a bit of horror thrown in; so very dull and pointless. The chemistry between would-be lovers Phoenix and Howard is practically non-existent. (Not surprising; both of them stem from Hollywood's inexhaustible supply of talentless, nepotist youth.) What saves the movie from total failure is the clever twist ending, typical of this director. So it ends up being like a clever "Twilight Zone" episode. Clever twist, but why all the protracted tedium in the first two-thirds? Do we really care to watch the overrated Phoenix and the ineffectual Howard talk and flirt for hours? "Twilight Zone" episodes would never have been so effective (the good ones) had they lasted 90 minutes. That's the main problem with this film.