User Reviews

--contains spoilers--major spoilers--

Alright, so I decided to watch this movie because I was bored, and the summary sounded good. The acting was not terrible, was not great either. The only point that did not quite make sense to me is why was she so interested in her neighbor, if she was so busy with moving to a new place, and all that how did she have time to spy? Yet she did have time to spy, and the more she did the more she found out. Victoria was a powerful woman full of great strength to not only ignore what her husband was saying about her being sleep deprived and basically calling her crazy, she still managed to follow her gut and save the girl next door. Not only the girl but her best friend also. The ending is what really makes me mad, he falls down the steps and that is it, he is done. I wasn't too sure why they just left him there, it wasn't like he broke his back? He walked to the police car. Yet they did, they left him lying there and he did no more harm? It made no sense to me. Not a great movie, not a terrible movie, somewhere in between. I also did not like how the husband was suddenly on her side at the end, and everything was OK. If that was my husband and he thought I was crazy, i'm not sure I could forgive him. Yet she does. The only twist I did not see coming was the wife knew all about the son dying and the daughter being kept down there. She got what she deserved though and what do you know, one big happy ending.

The movie really wasn't that great, but holds your interest to see what is happening.

Would seem very farfetched, except there have been several true cases - the three girls helds captive right in the middle of a neighborhood for many years, some beating children; the case of the father in another country (forget which one), who held his daughter captive for decades right under mom's nose and had children with her; and the case of a kidnapped girl kept in a tent in the backyard discovered as an adult. She also had born children. And many other cases of kidnapped children found as adults. Anyone living with someone who says you can't into a locked areas in your own home - run, don't walk to the police.

*Review Contains Spoilers* Been awhile since I've seen this movie. But it was a decent thriller. It is pretty well paced, keeps you in suspense. I especially liked Michael Hogan as the creepy locksmith/neighbor. Could definitely see him playing this type of role on the big screen. He kind of reminds me of Frank Langella.

Did others notice the similarity of this film to Disturbia and its inspiration Rear Window. Well, I guess its obvious.

Anyway, couple of things I did find silly about the movie: - The suspicious neighbor Victoria, manages to break into the basement, break loose a brick and talk to the little girl. Wouldn't the creepy neighbor notice right off the bat the break in the wall- even though she replaced the brick. Not like she had a can of white paint with her.

• The architect friend. The friend travels miles to check out the creepy neighbors house? Seems a little extreme to do as a favor. & wouldn't she tell her friend in advance that she was coming? And the creepy neighbor thinks nothing of it. The guy is keeping his daughter locked up downstairs- wouldn't he want to check things out with the building commission before letting her in? - Hiding the architect friend in the car trunk. What was the creepy neighbors plans with her? Keep her there for awhile & then kill her? Lock her up in the basement with the daughter? Very strange. Also laughable was that we see the friend with the family and the friend is laughing and clutching her wineglass just like old times. I guess people can recover from trauma with time, but its like nothing ever happened with her at all.

The typical 'chase' scene at the end was weird. I think the creepy neighbor knocked the husband unconscious, but just leaves him outside. While the daughter is being hunted by the neighbor, the husband takes his time to unshackle his wife rather than calling 911 or going after the creepy neighbor himself. That was odd.

Anyway, likable movie with some good acting, but not great.

I rarely write reviews, but in the case of this stinker, a strong warning is appropriate.

Obviously, the person (people?) who wrote this ridiculously implausible story is/are none too bright. Unfortunately, whoever thought this up was clearly operating under the assumption that the rest of us possess similar grape-sized brains.

Without giving too much away, for those of you who are just curious about how bad a movie can be, suffice it to say that the situations the female lead (the wife) deliberately creates are as unbelievable and stupid as anything I've ever seen. In addition, she was written as an incredibly stupid, demanding witch (spell that with a capital B). We get maybe 10 minutes out of the entire movie seeing this character act in a somewhat normal fashion.

The best friend was portrayed as being as stupid and reckless as the wife. This character also lacked business integrity.

Casting is also to blame for the ridiculous implausibility. Watching the wife interact with her husband, you have to think, "The only kind of man who would continue to put up with this woman's stupidity and unpleasantness would have to be so ugly and dull, he'd feel fortunate to have any woman and wouldn't dare rock the boat in any way!" Yet, they chose to cast a very attractive actor in this role

The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is that the acting wasn't completely awful. Certainly not even near as bad as the writing.

If you want to waste 2 hours, there are more entertaining and pleasant ways to do it!

Good cast, but the lack of common sense in this movie is atrocious. 3 people in a 3000sqft home being hunted by an old man with a shovel, they have cell phones and a home phone and no one calls 911.

Wasted my time watching this movie.

I have to agree with the other reviewers who point out how utterly implausible this movie is. Given that true events inspired this script, I would have expected so very much more. I'd rather watch a documentary on Bio or ID about actual stories such as this one. They are far more interesting.

Perhaps the biggest flaw to me is that the main character is absolutely disgustingly witchy. I can't agree with the other reviewer enough (spell that with a capital B--good line).

**spoilers follow** It's a good thing I don't have a neighbor like that, because I'd probably snap and whack her over the head with a shovel when I found her digging up my dead dog the very first day she lived next door! The villain is a far more sympathetic and likable character, and sadly I don't believe that's done on purpose. If it was done purposefully, then there's even more to dislike since the writers failed miserably at making that point.

If anyone can identify with this lead character, I feel sorry for their neighbors. The only good thing about the 2 hours wasted on this movie is getting some small amount of glee in rooting for the bad guy against the moronic idiots from the city.

I remember being horrified hearing about the Austrian version of this story and asking myself how could the father have gotten away with it so long. Then they discovered that other girl living confined with children in a gated backyard compound. So this was definitely an interesting take on those stories (unless there's another story I don't know about). What I find disturbing about this is not that only COULD it happen, but it DID happen.

Michael Hogan puts in a really solid performance as the Captor and Emma Caulfield doesn't take the part too over the top. DJE acts as a nice solid anchor to the madness.

The song (was it Wagner?) became a little more haunting after each time it was played and I LOVED the final scenes with Hogan's wife and Emma, seeing the regret and sadness of such a shocking crime and life of an innocent girl stolen from her.

The directing is bad and the story isn't logical with cheap shock tactics that don't further the plot. The premise is okay. A woman moves into a new neighbourhood and is suspicious of her elderly neighbour. She thinks he might be hiding someone in his basement. He plays Wagner on the piano. There are too many red herrings to deal with that even the ridiculous ending can't explain.

Even David James Elliot is too good for this movie.

I found this movie to be pretty suspenseful and overall an okay flick. But it was very irritating how the husband treated Victoria (the lead female). *SPOILER* He won't believe a word she says even when she says she actually saw a girl in the basement next door. He then just basically says you are crazy me and our daughter are out of here bye. She is pleading for help and for him to believe her and he just doesn't even seem to care and just goes to leave. Personally I would have an awful time forgiving my husband for treating me that way. But of course they are all okay in the end. However, the story was decently written and you really weren't completely sure what was going on and who knew about it until the end. Acting was pretty good as well. I liked that the heroine was a little tougher than they usually make this type of character. She was always on her toes expecting the worst instead of making dumb mistakes. The bad guy in the film was so creepy and disturbing he did an excellent job at his role. *SPOILER* At the end when he falls down the stairs I was a little disappointed he didn't get hurt more. I was hoping maybe our main gal would take his stupid shovel and whack him around a few times before calling the cops. Overall I'd watch again.