Finally a horror movie that isn't a found footage genre and it's scary

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2012)

Now I didn't read the novel this movie is based on but I sort of want to now after watching this movie. Now I seen scarier movies, mostly movies from Asian cinema. But this one did a pretty darn good job with the creepy eerie feel to it and the scares. The movie starts out pretty slow though and the build up is a bit boring with constant jump scares that doesn't build any tension. It almost seem more drama like than horror for quite some time but when the horror kicks in, it can get pretty scary. When the main character finds out what is going on, the tension starts to get pretty high and there is a lot of creepy parts to it as well. Which makes me wonder why they had those super creepy dolls for kids to play with but it does add a lot of creepiness from it. Although the camera seems to focus way too much on the dolls to the point the movie sort of feels like "Dead Silence" sometimes. So the plot is this during the very early 1900's Arthur Kipps(Daniel Radcliffe) wife dies from giving birth to a male child and after a few years later after that event, he leaves his four year old son to handle a estate at a very very creepy mansion. I don't know about the character Arthur but it would take me a lot of will power to stay in a mansion like that by myself. Daniel Radcliffe is pretty decent in this and fit right in this movie and his small and skinny stature adds to his vulnerability which makes it more tense when the scary moments kicks in. But he just didn't seem that scared despite the really scary stuff going around, he sees something really creepy and he goes to investigate anyways which doesn't make much sense to most people. But this is one of those elements that apply to most horror flicks so it's passable. But his character still should have at least shown a bit more fear to make it buy-able, even if his character might have lost the will to live. Lot of horror flicks use children and something about their innocence and naivety adds the creepy effect and it's done with it's close to full potential in this. Sometimes this movie reminded me of "The Grudge: Old Lady in White" and "The girl in black". Which is fine because those are pretty scary flicks as well. This is actually a decent movie after Radcliffe finished the Harry Potter franchise, this one will give chills and goosebumps. It did for me and I seen a lot of horror flicks, not the scariest movie I seen but this one does a pretty good job with the scares.
7.5/10