A family movies into a house in what is apparently the Spanish countryside. The dad starts to go crazy, the young son has welts all over his body, and the daughter (Anna Paquin) tries to figure out what is going on in their new home.
I don't feel I have the right to judge this movie because I saw the edited version that was theatrically released in the US in December 2004, not the original version. But I will say that this version is a mediocre and bizarre film that made little sense. The acting is surprisingly below average. It doesn't help that some of the dialogue is incredibly awful, which could possibly be attributed to language barriers between the filmmakers and the cast. Iain Glen laughably overacts as the dad-gone-berserk. Lena Olin is unusually awful as the mother in denial. Anna Paquin plays her character with such random lascivious looks on her face, that seem very out of context. Adding to the lewdness is the fact that in her scenes the camera often started at her crotch and then panned up. These scenes weren't like the kind in a typical sleazy horror movie. It seemed like they were done with some mysterious underlying purpose that the director never follows through with.
The film does have a unique atmosphere and some otherwise beautiful camera-work, and a few decent scares. But it could have been so much more. Still, it is better than Darkness Falls. My Rating: 5/10.
I don't feel I have the right to judge this movie because I saw the edited version that was theatrically released in the US in December 2004, not the original version. But I will say that this version is a mediocre and bizarre film that made little sense. The acting is surprisingly below average. It doesn't help that some of the dialogue is incredibly awful, which could possibly be attributed to language barriers between the filmmakers and the cast. Iain Glen laughably overacts as the dad-gone-berserk. Lena Olin is unusually awful as the mother in denial. Anna Paquin plays her character with such random lascivious looks on her face, that seem very out of context. Adding to the lewdness is the fact that in her scenes the camera often started at her crotch and then panned up. These scenes weren't like the kind in a typical sleazy horror movie. It seemed like they were done with some mysterious underlying purpose that the director never follows through with.
The film does have a unique atmosphere and some otherwise beautiful camera-work, and a few decent scares. But it could have been so much more. Still, it is better than Darkness Falls. My Rating: 5/10.