| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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|
A Classic
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Feb 12, 2008
21
of
25 people found this review helpful
I went to see this movie when it first came out. When I saw the commercial (trailer), I knew it would be pretty scary, but I wasn't at all prepared for the cinematic descent into madness I experienced. To say this film is (good) is the understatement of the decade. It is so much more than that. The plot is very basic, but the acting and direction add so much more than what I'd expected. The actors give extremely genuine, realistic reactions. I somewhat like the fact that the actors say the "f" word maybe 100 times in the movie. That's realistic. When scared to death most people aren't very articulate. There is also the general ambience of the film. The feeling is of substantial but vague desolation (even in daylight scenes). Even before the action begins, you somehow sense that the three are doomed. As if a shadow is cast over the entire film from beginning to end. Whereas most other horror movies present the standard "knife killer" scenario with everything neatly packaged and anticipated, this movie leaves that area as open black space. The nightmare occurs more in your mind than anywhere else. There is no particular image of the evil that you can grasp. No hockey mask, no hideous beast, no voice, no face, not even so much as a pair of eyes staring from the darkness. One can only imagine the terror, which is more unnerving than all the splattered blood and flying guts in the world. To be terrified to the point that you blindly run screaming into the mouth of the very thing you flee. And to experience it all from the persective of the prey. In an age of glossy "action figure" horror, this film is a quick reminder that real fear is consuming. A living darkness that can paralyze and reduce anyone to the level helpless infancy. Highly disturbing, yet excellent. A classic. |
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