Film-makers can't really win with stories of this sort. The plot moves along, the characters do their thing, and then tension gradually increases. But, in the end, we either have to be shown the monster (or whatever), or we don't. Either way, we go away disappointed. If we see the monster, then our reaction is (to paraphrase Stephen King) "Ugh! It's a 30-foot bug. But at least it's not a 300-foot bug!" If we don't see the monster, we're left wondering what on earth it was all about.
Sometimes not showing us the monster can work; for example, the story might be cleverly ambiguous about whether there really is a monster at all. In this movie, however, we know there is a monster. And that makes the ending particularly lazy and inept because, if the film-makers aren't going to show us the monster whose existence has been increasingly strongly hinted at, the film has to offer us something else. But it doesn't -- it's just curtains down, at no particular point.
Still, credit where it's due. The small cast of characters is convincingly written and portrayed well. The scenery/environment is engaging and atmospheric, and the church where a lot of the action takes place is creepy, but not unbelievably so. In fact, I enjoyed the movie right up until the last twenty minutes or so, when it became heart-sinkingly clear that there wasn't going to be any plot resolution.
I don't mind a movie that leaves me wondering what happens next. What irks me is a movie in which it's patently obvious that even the writer had no idea what happens next, and probably didn't much care. On the whole, I'd rather have seen a 30-foot bug.
Sometimes not showing us the monster can work; for example, the story might be cleverly ambiguous about whether there really is a monster at all. In this movie, however, we know there is a monster. And that makes the ending particularly lazy and inept because, if the film-makers aren't going to show us the monster whose existence has been increasingly strongly hinted at, the film has to offer us something else. But it doesn't -- it's just curtains down, at no particular point.
Still, credit where it's due. The small cast of characters is convincingly written and portrayed well. The scenery/environment is engaging and atmospheric, and the church where a lot of the action takes place is creepy, but not unbelievably so. In fact, I enjoyed the movie right up until the last twenty minutes or so, when it became heart-sinkingly clear that there wasn't going to be any plot resolution.
I don't mind a movie that leaves me wondering what happens next. What irks me is a movie in which it's patently obvious that even the writer had no idea what happens next, and probably didn't much care. On the whole, I'd rather have seen a 30-foot bug.