I sat down in the dark theatre and prepped myself for sheer terror. The lights went out and the film began. I slowly came to the conclusion that the only terror I’d be feeling would be that of the realization that this film gave away all of the scary parts in its trailer. A rookie mistake! Trailers are done to give you a taste of what is in the full length feature-an appetizer before the meal. The trailer shouldn’t come out looking better than the film itself. This loses a film’s credibility in my books because it makes me believe that the filmmakers didn’t fully believe in the film themselves, so they put all the goods into the trailer to entice audiences and make them think there was more to see than there actually was. We were left disappointed once our tickets were purchased and we were in our seats; popcorn in hand, bracing for an onscreen thrill ride that didn’t come.
They attempted to end the film in a way that would bring audiences to come back for the inevitable sequel, but the ending was weak. It didn’t make me want to come back, I wasn’t left curious about finding out what happened to so and so, or who did what. The audience was quiet with disappointment as the credits rolled to no soundtrack, and slowly one by one, we all got up, put on our coats and walked out of the theatre with blank faces. This is not the reaction movie makers want at the end of their films. They want to hear things like “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe that happened!” and “I can’t wait to see what happens in the sequel!” amongst other conversations as crowds are walking out pumped after the film they had just finished viewing. This unfortunately didn’t happen after the film. Nor did a passionate conversation about why people didn’t enjoy the movie ensue either. People were left with absolutely nothing to say, and that is definitely not a good sign about a film’s success.
I don’t enjoy critiquing a film without providing at least one insight on what I did enjoy in it. With this in mind, I believe the scary scenes were indeed scary. They were shot wonderfully and the effects used were realistic. They weren’t however, scary enough to carry an entire film and keep the audience interested all the way through. I had also wished we weren’t anticipating these scary scenes because they were already revealed to us in the film’s trailer. Had that not been done, they would have surprised and spooked us.
I give this film TWO THUMBS DOWN. I was expecting to see more than a film trailer, and this film did not deliver.