By horror movie's standards, I think that's the best way to sum up my experience with this film.
They really shaved any corners that were needed to beef up the time. Keep in mind that doesn't just make it an extended version of the short; there was an actual story in this, and I think that's what made this movie good. Compared to my favorite PG-13 horror film The Ring, they try to establish a connection between the main characters and the mystery at bay, and for the most part it works very well to mold a relationship that we have with the characters and they have with each other. Though if I were to compare it to The Ring, it doesn't touch it for one big reason, but I won't get into it for spoiler reasons.
It's funny though that most horror movies have their scary parts happen when it's at night or darker... and obviously this movie is the closest to not being an exception that you can get. As you know the one- trick pony that this movie relies on for scare tactics. It is not always jump scares, but they are pretty effective nonetheless. They almost become a bit redundant up until one seemingly very long and drawn out scene where "build-up" is the scare name. This is by far the best scene of the film, as it is about 25 minutes of pure intensity. Before you know it, just when you might feel the movie is only halfway over, it finds a way toward a conclusion, and gets you out of that theater. I think in this case less was more, and it ended at the right time. If they want to do more with it, they can save it for a sequel (though I wouldn't really advocate for one).
I don't normally think we have to qualify actors in horror movies for Oscar awards, but I didn't think the child actor was very good... I don't mean with being scared, I mean when speaking in general. It looked like he was acting, basically. I liked the main actress though (Teresa Palmer). Looks like a pretty version of Kristen Stewart, but seems to limit her range to that stoic kind of low. It seemed to work for this flick. I'll have to see her in more films. At the very least, I cared about them. They all seemed like "smart" characters too, not doing too many stupid things where you have to talk to the screen (outside of the occasional "Why are you going TOWARD the creepy noise??" instances).
This movie is swimming pretty around 80% on RT for a reason: the critics liked it more than they didn't. It was a fun concept, and as I said it took the original short and maintained the brevity for the feature film as well. It's by no means of the scariest movies I have seen, nor will it make me be afraid to turn off my lights at night either. Also, if anything this movie's evil spirit really wanted to spread a message about going green! :p
Anyway, probably more of a rental than shelling out your hard-earned money for, because you're not missing out on anything that you haven't seen from a horror film before, other than doing it right and often during its own run time. Don't expect anything after the credits either.
Last thing to mention: for a PG-13 movie, it was able to get away with a couple of graphic moments. Nothing too unsettling, but I was surprised all the same.
They really shaved any corners that were needed to beef up the time. Keep in mind that doesn't just make it an extended version of the short; there was an actual story in this, and I think that's what made this movie good. Compared to my favorite PG-13 horror film The Ring, they try to establish a connection between the main characters and the mystery at bay, and for the most part it works very well to mold a relationship that we have with the characters and they have with each other. Though if I were to compare it to The Ring, it doesn't touch it for one big reason, but I won't get into it for spoiler reasons.
It's funny though that most horror movies have their scary parts happen when it's at night or darker... and obviously this movie is the closest to not being an exception that you can get. As you know the one- trick pony that this movie relies on for scare tactics. It is not always jump scares, but they are pretty effective nonetheless. They almost become a bit redundant up until one seemingly very long and drawn out scene where "build-up" is the scare name. This is by far the best scene of the film, as it is about 25 minutes of pure intensity. Before you know it, just when you might feel the movie is only halfway over, it finds a way toward a conclusion, and gets you out of that theater. I think in this case less was more, and it ended at the right time. If they want to do more with it, they can save it for a sequel (though I wouldn't really advocate for one).
I don't normally think we have to qualify actors in horror movies for Oscar awards, but I didn't think the child actor was very good... I don't mean with being scared, I mean when speaking in general. It looked like he was acting, basically. I liked the main actress though (Teresa Palmer). Looks like a pretty version of Kristen Stewart, but seems to limit her range to that stoic kind of low. It seemed to work for this flick. I'll have to see her in more films. At the very least, I cared about them. They all seemed like "smart" characters too, not doing too many stupid things where you have to talk to the screen (outside of the occasional "Why are you going TOWARD the creepy noise??" instances).
This movie is swimming pretty around 80% on RT for a reason: the critics liked it more than they didn't. It was a fun concept, and as I said it took the original short and maintained the brevity for the feature film as well. It's by no means of the scariest movies I have seen, nor will it make me be afraid to turn off my lights at night either. Also, if anything this movie's evil spirit really wanted to spread a message about going green! :p
Anyway, probably more of a rental than shelling out your hard-earned money for, because you're not missing out on anything that you haven't seen from a horror film before, other than doing it right and often during its own run time. Don't expect anything after the credits either.
Last thing to mention: for a PG-13 movie, it was able to get away with a couple of graphic moments. Nothing too unsettling, but I was surprised all the same.