jovansmoot

I probably would have liked this film...if I could have seen it.

Look, I know horror movies rely on darkness, and that it's necessary sometimes. That is one thing this movie did right - kept the titular creature mostly out of sight. Nothing is less scary than too much CGI.

However, when the majority of the film is dark to the extent that you can barely see anything, I find I'm too hacked off to be scared.

That's a shame, because as far as I could make out, the acting was decent, as were the script and story (hit or miss when it comes to Stephen King adaptations). A widowed father, a shrink, takes a walk-in who tells him a harrowing tale of kids dying at the hands of something supernatural, after which his own daughters start to experience spooky shenanigans.

There is the old trope of the parent taking far too long to believe their offspring, and a house in which any given light source only affects about a six inch circle around itself, but I think these would have been minor irritants if the filmmakers had considered that their audience might like to occasionally be able to work out what's happening on screen.

As it is, this was a semi-decent movie which had the potential to be better.

It's a top contender. I first saw this on video, way back in the day, and when it was added on Prime I was very happy indeed.

I've no idea why it's not better known; the cast (Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini) is excellent, the story intriguing and it's genuinely unnerving.

Denzel is a cop who becomes embroiled in a supernatural killer's fun and games when a death-row inmate puts the whammy on him. Can he stop the bad guy/thing/whatever before it gets him and his family?

It's a creepy flick with (wonder of wonders) a satisfying ending. Trust me - you won't regret watching this.