A decent start to this one from Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose). The familiar element: a family moving into an old house, where a writer (Ethan Hawke) hopes to be able to finish his latest true crime novel. His wife (Juliet Rylance) is supportive in one scene and threatens to leave him in the next. But it’s the unfamiliar element, a batch of home movies with murders on them, that makes him a little crazy. (Which sorts of fits the movie into the batch of recent horror films involving found footage, camcorders, and/or otherwise crude-looking visuals.) And the way he keeps hearing noises, noises his wife and young children never seem to hear.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have trouble suspending my disbelief when it comes to horror movies. To my mind, if your movie involves the supernatural, keep the supernatural elements to a minimum. So, where I lost interest was where the symbols expert (Vincent D’Onofrio) came on to explain some ancient mythology I never heard of and what it means. To me this is just lazy screenwriting because it lets you explain anything. (I think one reason people like vampire and zombie films is because there are known rules for these beings.) I won’t give away the twist, but the explanation for it pretty much amounts to, well, because it’s pretty creepy.
IMDb link
viewed 10/9/12 7:30 [PFS screening] at Ritz East and reviewed 10/10–12/12
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