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I had heard so much about this movie. 'Intense, original, and heart pounding.' Last night we went to rent this and it was rented out everywhere. We managed to get a copy from Redbox. So we got nestled in for what we thought would be a ride.
I was initially pleased to see Patrick Wilson in it (from Watchmen). His performance was pretty good, albeit bland since the script gave him little to do except give people funny looks and say "What the h*ll was that?". But overall the acting was pretty stale. And in some cases laughable. The whole film itself is this hodge-podge, paste together, 'wanna-be' of every spiritual-based horror film I had ever seen. It's a low end, B style version of Poltergeist meets Paranormal Activity...minus any real chills. Scenes that could have worked, take too long to set up. And the red faced 'Darth Maul' reject summoned to play a demon becomes almost comical at the end. You can tell the director has no clue what to do with him. So he gives him a little 'Jeepers Creepers' treatment with the work bench for his long nails while playing this off the wall music (Tiny Tim's 'Tip Toe through the Tulips'). It's all designed to give the character "creepiness" but keeps me in the mode of "Yeah and why?" There is very little in this film that is cohesive outside of the overplayed 'spiritual world wanting to get into our world' theme.
You get the spineless priests with the stock response of "Yeah, I'm out of here." And the nerdy scientists who bring their view-master style machines to get scared at shadows. But the most unintended funny part of this film is the woman who is brought in to "exorcise" the demons. Oh brother. Her character is a complete rip off of the little midget from Poltergeist. She knows everything. She feels everything. And her acting is so corny I can't buy into anything she has to say. But at one point, they come together to hold this seance. For reasons never explained, this lady puts on a gas mask which connects to what looks like drain tubing from my gutters.
Wait. It gets better. It's THEN connected to a headset this other guy is wearing!! 
I start cracking up and say, "A little explanation would be nice here!" Then she starts going into convulsions at which point everyone (even my 16 year old daughter) starts laughing. I'm doubled over in hysterics because it's obvious our response was not the intent here. It came so close to being a parody of Poltergeist, I began to wonder if the director wasn't really winking at the audience through the whole film to see if anyone would notice. We did.
The ending is predictable and this movie, which had so much hype, was the most bloated, unoriginal, and most uneven script I had witnessed in a long time. It's title is well earned...but should apply to the script treatment! On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 3. And the 3 is just for making me laugh so hard towards the end. That's entertainment value, I guess.
I was initially pleased to see Patrick Wilson in it (from Watchmen). His performance was pretty good, albeit bland since the script gave him little to do except give people funny looks and say "What the h*ll was that?". But overall the acting was pretty stale. And in some cases laughable. The whole film itself is this hodge-podge, paste together, 'wanna-be' of every spiritual-based horror film I had ever seen. It's a low end, B style version of Poltergeist meets Paranormal Activity...minus any real chills. Scenes that could have worked, take too long to set up. And the red faced 'Darth Maul' reject summoned to play a demon becomes almost comical at the end. You can tell the director has no clue what to do with him. So he gives him a little 'Jeepers Creepers' treatment with the work bench for his long nails while playing this off the wall music (Tiny Tim's 'Tip Toe through the Tulips'). It's all designed to give the character "creepiness" but keeps me in the mode of "Yeah and why?" There is very little in this film that is cohesive outside of the overplayed 'spiritual world wanting to get into our world' theme.
You get the spineless priests with the stock response of "Yeah, I'm out of here." And the nerdy scientists who bring their view-master style machines to get scared at shadows. But the most unintended funny part of this film is the woman who is brought in to "exorcise" the demons. Oh brother. Her character is a complete rip off of the little midget from Poltergeist. She knows everything. She feels everything. And her acting is so corny I can't buy into anything she has to say. But at one point, they come together to hold this seance. For reasons never explained, this lady puts on a gas mask which connects to what looks like drain tubing from my gutters.
Wait. It gets better. It's THEN connected to a headset this other guy is wearing!! I start cracking up and say, "A little explanation would be nice here!" Then she starts going into convulsions at which point everyone (even my 16 year old daughter) starts laughing. I'm doubled over in hysterics because it's obvious our response was not the intent here. It came so close to being a parody of Poltergeist, I began to wonder if the director wasn't really winking at the audience through the whole film to see if anyone would notice. We did. The ending is predictable and this movie, which had so much hype, was the most bloated, unoriginal, and most uneven script I had witnessed in a long time. It's title is well earned...but should apply to the script treatment! On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 3. And the 3 is just for making me laugh so hard towards the end. That's entertainment value, I guess.
WANTED: Removable Mask ROBIN on Kresge style card
-Tallahassee 
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