All of a sudden everybody's Roger Ebert.
People who gave this film a bad review missed the whole point.
This is NOT a slasher/gore-fest like they've been making since "Friday the 13th" entered the landscape and ruined almost all horror films ever since. It is a throwback to subtle horror films with emotional resonance and fleshed-out (sorry for the pun) characters. True, no back-story is given, so the origin of Nestor Duvalier is unknown.
But the film is played straight (this is not a horror-comedy, as some reviewers have insisted) and the tone is set early in the film, a story of how a family is thrown into turmoil by the unlucky intrusion of a monster.
Jeanne Bates is totally sympathetic as Emily Dwyer, a woman who lives alone, is somewhat neglected by her kids, and wants not only some extra cash, but some companionship. She shows she's worse at picking tenants than Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith in "Pacific Heights"!!!
The rest of the cast acquits themselves very nicely, this is not Shakespeare, it's a low-budget fright flick. And as such, it delivers 90 minutes of old-fashioned fright fun.
People who gave this film a bad review missed the whole point.
This is NOT a slasher/gore-fest like they've been making since "Friday the 13th" entered the landscape and ruined almost all horror films ever since. It is a throwback to subtle horror films with emotional resonance and fleshed-out (sorry for the pun) characters. True, no back-story is given, so the origin of Nestor Duvalier is unknown.
But the film is played straight (this is not a horror-comedy, as some reviewers have insisted) and the tone is set early in the film, a story of how a family is thrown into turmoil by the unlucky intrusion of a monster.
Jeanne Bates is totally sympathetic as Emily Dwyer, a woman who lives alone, is somewhat neglected by her kids, and wants not only some extra cash, but some companionship. She shows she's worse at picking tenants than Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith in "Pacific Heights"!!!
The rest of the cast acquits themselves very nicely, this is not Shakespeare, it's a low-budget fright flick. And as such, it delivers 90 minutes of old-fashioned fright fun.