This just shows that you do not need a multi million dollar budget and what you can do for a meagre 3 million dollars.
Although the film builds itself up with clever scenes and sound effects to be a horror the film is actually a cleverly constructed thriller and it succeeds in its modest budget tenfold.
First off the acting is decent, photography is well crafted and it is written very cleverly to reveal the story slowly almost with spoilers all the way. Helen Hunt is fantastic as always but oh my what has she done with her latest plastic surgery, I do have to admit that seeing her now it is quite disturbing as she looks like Mason Verger from the movie Hannibal so disastrous is the plastic surgery she had in 2009 that it does actually impinge on her acting now and distracts the viewer every time you see her as she actually looks like she has had horror movie makeup and latex fitted to make her look unworldly - how very sad that such once beautiful and talented actresses such as Hunt have to do this to keep up in Hollywood - what is wrong with growing old gracefully but for me it does distract your attention in almost every close up scene she is in.
I digress however, the movie itself is well paced and thought out and the ending is masterful. I wonder how many people got the little scene at the end intimating that Alec was indeed the child who escaped from the serial killer at the beginning of the film and that was his reason for Phrogging the house as he wanted to exact revenge on the Serial killer who had killed his friends. It is little things like this that make this film a better than average thriller, even the scene where the little boy is mysteriously pulled into the air from his bike seemingly by an evil ghost/spirit to draw the viewer in when in fact it was actually just a tripwire - magic!
But what elevates this film above the usual is the superlative music and sound effects reminiscent of the recent Stephen King series The Outsider and which lends itself to making the film seem like a horror movie rather than the thriller which it is - my advice on this one is if you have 5.1 surround then turn it up to the max; pure cinematic ingenuity so this one gets very good 7/10 hatchets.
Although the film builds itself up with clever scenes and sound effects to be a horror the film is actually a cleverly constructed thriller and it succeeds in its modest budget tenfold.
First off the acting is decent, photography is well crafted and it is written very cleverly to reveal the story slowly almost with spoilers all the way. Helen Hunt is fantastic as always but oh my what has she done with her latest plastic surgery, I do have to admit that seeing her now it is quite disturbing as she looks like Mason Verger from the movie Hannibal so disastrous is the plastic surgery she had in 2009 that it does actually impinge on her acting now and distracts the viewer every time you see her as she actually looks like she has had horror movie makeup and latex fitted to make her look unworldly - how very sad that such once beautiful and talented actresses such as Hunt have to do this to keep up in Hollywood - what is wrong with growing old gracefully but for me it does distract your attention in almost every close up scene she is in.
I digress however, the movie itself is well paced and thought out and the ending is masterful. I wonder how many people got the little scene at the end intimating that Alec was indeed the child who escaped from the serial killer at the beginning of the film and that was his reason for Phrogging the house as he wanted to exact revenge on the Serial killer who had killed his friends. It is little things like this that make this film a better than average thriller, even the scene where the little boy is mysteriously pulled into the air from his bike seemingly by an evil ghost/spirit to draw the viewer in when in fact it was actually just a tripwire - magic!
But what elevates this film above the usual is the superlative music and sound effects reminiscent of the recent Stephen King series The Outsider and which lends itself to making the film seem like a horror movie rather than the thriller which it is - my advice on this one is if you have 5.1 surround then turn it up to the max; pure cinematic ingenuity so this one gets very good 7/10 hatchets.