I rented this just for the heck of it, hoping for some cheap thrills for the night. The story seemed pretty good, too. It's about this archaelogist, Chris, whose family was killed in a cave-like monastery in Serbia when he was a boy. Now, an adult, he wants to return to seek out the burial place of those murdered. He brings with him his girlfriend and editor, Jenny, a photographer, Paul, and Paul's girlfriend, Marcy. But things go awry when the spirit of the killer begins to haunt Chris, slowly changing him from the guy he was to someone quite evil....
On a scale of one-to-ten, I give this a seven. The story was quite good, and developed very well, though I was confused a bit in the middle. Luckily, all is cleared up and explained, but not too much, so that's good. The performances are all quite strong. Jenny was a very likable heroine. And the setting was great. Couldn't have been better. Plus, there are a couple of genuinely scary scenes, especially during the exciting climax where Jenny is forced to play their games, and fights to get away.
But there are some downsides. The movie takes a while to get going. It's not flat-out boring, but it doesn't get very exciting for a bit. And also, the villain, the spirit of the boy that killed Chris's family, is downright laughable. To Chris, he appears as a teenaged boy, and that's alright. But to Jenny--the only other person to see him--he is a very animated zombie, with a goofy face and constant one-liners. It was tough to be afraid of him. Chris was the better of the two, almost a reminder of Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining," which some could say this film was a bit inspired by. He was much scarier, coming after Jenny through the monastery with a pickaxe.
In any event, this is worth seeing. It's actually an impressive film with some elements that should have boosted its popularity. I recommend it.
