I had high hopes for this movie. It starts off pretty well, slow paced, setting the isolated stage in a good way, odd characters and an eerie setting. I liked it. Then it started getting creepier and creepier and it felt like I was in for something good and different, and I was. Just not consistently the way I hoped for as it only lasted up to a certain point, and then it dropped the ball. Suddenly it felt like the movie didn't know what it wanted to be, as it went in different moods and directions.
It did try to get back on the creepy track here and there, but it was not enough. The illusion of a really creepy and eerie setting was over, and the rest was a rather bland mix of pointless motions which had me simply waiting for the end of the movie so I could go and do something else. It's a shame, I wanted it to keep on the way it initially did. That would have set it apart from other horror movies, but alas no, it wasn't meant to be. It just had to try to add some action into the mix, and not in a good way. The whole premise was explained and I lost interest in it.
One of the rules when making creepy and unsettling stories; do not explain! Do not! That ruins everything. I don't want to know what the monster or horror is, I want my mind to try to fill in the blanks. I don't want it explained to me. I can take the fact that I don't know what I just saw is, that makes the effect that much greater. The thing about not knowing what the evil really is, not knowing where it came from, that's a great part of the horror it represents. The fear of the unknown is as old as all living things and should not be ruined when making these movies. Once you explain it, it's over. How copywriters and directors misses this point again and again in movie after movie is completely beyond me. If you can avoid it, don't show the monster, but if you do, make sure it gets maximum effect and not for shock value. Ever since Alien there's not a monster in any movie that tops that one, so don't go over the top trying to beat it, because you won't succeed. In this one the monster worked, it was creepy as hell, even though we got to see it so it was well done in this circumstance, until they explained it. Do not ever explain the monster!
Just like the movie Smile, which also showed a great initial promise, this movie simply faded away into just another horror movie that explains a really good and mysterious premise and then ruins it because of it, that couldn't keep itself together, and so became just another easily forgotten movie. It is indeed a real shame as it showed such promise from start.
Perhaps the director will learn from his mistakes and do better next time.
