Absolutely horrible

Rating: 3/10 (12 October 2004)

I'm a big Shyamalan fan. "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable," and "Signs" are all fine films, provided you watch them exactly once. But this work is subpar at best and horrible at worst.
For starters, "those we do not speak of" were too much about words and too little about actual suspense in this film. They were referred to practically every minute and showed up, what, two times? This is not to say the village should have been under constant attack, but it made it seem as though there was no enemy. Children play, people get married, it's all very ho hum except for the town gathering and climactic scenes.
Brody's portrayal of the mentally challenged character is passable. I do like how he is tied in to the main story thread at the end. Phoenix also is passable. His portrayal is fine, there's just not much there. It really feels like Night threw this script together quickly.
But there are signs (pardon the pun) of what is to come all throughout this film. It makes the big "twist ending" a colossal letdown. And to those who savor this movie for its "artful exploration of the human mind" and whatever, that's fine for about 1% of the population. Frankly, I would like that AND some suspense, which Shyamalan has shown he can give us. He just didn't do it here.
3/10 (I'm not gonna lie, it's because of Bryce Dallas Howard that this film even got 3 from me)