I thought this film was awesome, with drag me to hell this brings back old school horror, and this is a balls to the walls horror film, not the movie I was expecting.  I liked how the filmmakers went all the way with this, it is deffinitly exploitive with putting children in peril, they are shot at, suffocated, kicked, bones broken, bones crushed in a vice, and its all in your face.  

The actors in it are all very good, Vera Farmiga gives a strong performance and has to hold this whole movie together, and she does.  Isabelle Fuhrman could be the next Jodi foster, she is a brilliant young actress, very scary, makes damian from the omen seem like jesus christ, and the little deaf girl has got to be the cutest little girl in movie history, and I hate children, so coming from me that;s a lot., so when she is asked to play russian roullete there was some real tension, also I liked when you see things through the deaf girls eyes the sound goes off, its dead silent, it gives you the best sense of what it is like to be deaf in a film.
  
This movie is a hack and slash, and if you dont like those you wont like this, people are stabbed, get their heads bashed in by hammers, and the blood squirts out and gives those cool squishy sounds.  This was a lot better than I thought it was and it had a twist that I didnt see coming even though there are clues so im sure some people will catch it, but i didnt.  This is a first class horror film that is truly disturbing

Agreed on all counts.

So far, the best horror movie of 2009.

And the treatment of the Warner Brothers logo at the beginning of the film was just awesome.

Quoted from Sham And the treatment of the Warner Brothers logo at the beginning of the film was just awesome.

that was sweet as well, and the bedroom at the end, that was some creepy stuff, i love how the colours just pop out.

I saw the previews for this and it just looked absolutely terrible. Every time I saw the commercials for it, I'd shake my head and think to myself, "Why would anyone want to see that?" I called my friend, and she told me she saw it, and said it was good and scary, and I was surprised, but then again, this is coming from a girl who's afraid of children in horror movies. So I went and saw it with some friends...




I was pleasantly surprised. This was actually pretty good, a lot better than the previews made it.


MINOR SPOILERS




I though it was really disturbing to see a child killing adults and doing crazy shit, and I couldn't help but cringe at each scene where Esther would do something crazy. The twist was bizarre and I had kind of a hard time soaking it in because it was so random, but until the twist is revealed, I just felt sick in my stomach. It's really gross, actually, but once the twist is revealed, it makes a lot more sense.

I don't think I'd see this movie again. It made me so mad while watching it, and same with one of my friends. We just wanted to kill Esther (or at least someone) because we were so mad that nobody believes the wife, the deaf girl wouldn't tell, the husband was an idiot, the son was annoying, and Esther was just a biiiiitch.

The one part where I had to look away, and this is just two words as to not give away spoilers: broken arm. UGH. That was a horrible, horrible scene.

Also, I thought that it was going to be based off of a short horror story when they mentioned not to take off her ribbons. The short story is of a guy who falls in love with a girl who always wears a red scarf (or something like that). Any way, stuff happens, and he becomes curious and pulls her scarf off and sees that there's a huge cut around her neck, and her head falls off. Turns out the scarf was holding her head on the whole time and she was really dead. Or something. Any way, I thought that's what this story was based off, but I was wrong.









This is a decent flick. It made me pissed, but it was a lot better than I expected, though, I don't think it's worth renting or buying once it comes out.


Sean

wha? hack and slash? ton O blood? bashed in with a hammer?

Isn't this movie about a couple who adopt a girl? what is she- a predator?

How much carnage and hack and slash can a little girl do?

I've seen the trailer for this and I'm very keen to see it.  

yeah, a nun gets her brains bashed in with a hammer out in the snow, a guy is stabbed with a big shiny knife about 6 or 7 times, some get shot, a kid is suffocated, another kid is pushed off some play ground equipment, a kid is thrown in front of a moving car, an arm is broken in a vice, lots of fighting, punching, it also has the best face kick ive seen in a while.  some good stuff.

The film must have been boring for the first hour though right? Cause I remember in the script for the first 60 pages or so not too much happened

Great movie with an excellent twist. Much better than the previews made it out to be.

~Zack~

I'm literally shocked to hear all the positive reviews here.  I've stayed away from it, based on the horrendous feedback on the internet.  People who have seen it all seem to hate it.  Critics have not been too kind (although it is at 46% on the Tomato scale, which isn't really bad for a horror flcik).

maybe I'll have to see it after all.  Biggest surprise is that you guys are saying it's violent and brutal?  Sure didn't think that would be the case.

Critics don't always know best, regular people are the best critics, they actually have to pay instead of getting paid.  it's not non stop violence, just when it is, it's pretty tough because most of it is inflicted towards children, and what is it with vera fermiga getting plowed in the kitchen, running scared, departed, well it starts in the kitchen in that, and now this one, doggy style too.

It was an all right Horror movie with a decent twist. Can't ask for more considering how terrible movies of the genre have been in the past ten years or so.

--Julio

Quoted from The boy who could fly Critics don't always know best, regular people are the best critics, they actually have to pay instead of getting paid.

Cos we all know the average critic's DNA is comprised mostly of GAMMA RAYS. C'mon... I have yet to see a critic one who isn't a normal guy/gal with an opinion. By the same token you can say don't take the advice of a McDonald's employee when it comes to what taste good, cos he gets paid to work there. Ask a customer instead.

I watched it and thought it nothing more than a rip off of  "Kill Baby Kill" and even some of "The Good Son" was tossed into the mix too. More Kill Baby Kill to me, though.   Movie was filmed well, but lacked imagination when viewed under the scope of other movies dealing with the same source material.  Sad, but true.

& yes, the twist ending, if you wanna call it that, is absurd and 99.9% improbable...

I know the twist, and it sounds horrendous...and rediculous as well.  Mayeb I'll go see it anyways.

I wanted to see The Collector, but I heard it has spiders, and I'm arachnophobic, so no go there.

Quoted Text & yes, the twist ending, if you wanna call it that, is absurd and 99.9% improbable...

Really, now? [SPOILERS]

http://www.google.com/search?h.....q=f&oq=&aqi=

The film did mistakingly refer to her condition as a type of dwarfism, which it is not. But the fact remains that a similar disease does exist.

The only thing improbable about the twist is how Esther managed to end up in an American orphanage starting off in a Russian mental institute. Must have been quite a journey to end up all the way there.

Quoted Text I know the twist, and it sounds horrendous...and rediculous as well.  Mayeb I'll go see it anyways. I wanted to see The Collector, but I heard it has spiders, and I'm arachnophobic, so no go there.

As 'rediculous' as your spelling? Ooooh!

The Collector is not a very good movie, but your phobia shouldn't prevent you from enjoying it. I've found that my own phobias rarely affect me when watching films. I'm scared of spiders too and I had no problem with it. One of my favorite movies as a kid was Stephen King's It, and I was deathly-afraid of clowns at the time.


--Julio

HaHa!  Yes, Julio, without a spell checker, my spelling is quite poor, but then again most of my issues are more due to typing, hitting wrong keys, etc.  It's literally amazing how many times I type "teh" and "tehn"...guess my hand eye coordination aint what it used to be.

My phobia is quite extreme, to the point where I literally have major problems even seeing the critters, in real life as well as on the screen.  I have to turn away for instance, quite frequently on many episodes of "Survivor", and the only episode of "Monser Quest" that I didn't see is...well, I think you know what I m talking about.

I'm looking forward to next weeks "A Perfect Getaway"...looks like a good flick...my kind of flick.  We'll see.  

For those who haven't seen it but know the twist, PLEASE don't assume the movie is one huge buildup to it, because it's not. The movie is actually a very effective character piece with small moments of surprise. You'll walk away from this movie knowing every character, and for a horror movie, that's extremely rare.

That's true. I do recall in the script a lot of character development

Unfortunately, after getting excited by the tagline 'YOU'LL NEVER GUESS HER SECRET', I did exactly that a bit before it was a revealed, so I wasn't as surprised as I'd hoped I'd be (I LOVE a twist ending lol). I don't know how I did it though, I'm AWFUL at guessing twists, I never get them right, and this one was not only hugely original but deftly foreshadowed in a very subtle way. It doesn't come out of nowhere at all so you don't feel cheated, and yet it doesn't make it obvious. I really don't know how I guessed...

Nonetheless, it was still a good horror film, really well acted and directed with quite a bit of suspense. The UV paint thing was genius, loved it. Surprisingly good on all accounts. And the twist is really good in my opinion, of course it would never happen in real life but how many jaw-dropping twists WOULD?! I don't think that's the point. In the context of the story, it works a treat and it's just so creepy and wrong I don't get the uproar about it. Yes it's outlandish, but it certainly isn't some tacked on surprise ending. Once you know, you realise it was there in almost every scene. The fact that they didn't have to resort to the old montage of flashbacks trick to make it the audience understand is a pretty good sign the ending was an organic product of a well plotted story and not some trick or gimmick. And yeah, it's not all just a build up to the reveal, even if you hate the ending there's still a lot to enjoy in this one. I loved the wife and husband, their relationship felt very real, they're not some cheesy lovey dovey 'only in the movies' cliche of a couple (see something like WHITE NOISE before the wife dies, it's very guilty of that one!). Good characters in this one, which I really wasn't expecting.

Sham, I agree with your second comment wholeheartedly.

This film sits nicely with a number of recent horrors/whatever you want to term them, ('The Strangers', 'The Uninvited', 'All The Boys Love Mandy Lane', 'P2', 'REC', 'Eden Lake', 'Wolf Creek', just off the top of my head) where nothing necessarily unique is achieved, but the quality is high, very high, IMO.

So often we see lavish praise for directors, writers and actors, but the casting in this movie was incredibly on the mark, big plaudits to those responsible. Fuhrman was sensational. She was 11 when this was filmed, I hear, and she has a huge future. Young Max was jaw-dropping cute, and was reminiscent of Drew Barrymore. Without these two girls, I am not sure this would have worked like it did.

The story was at times highly implausible, but as long as it stays within the parameters of horror believable - and the audience must channel that before renouncing a horror - then, y'know, great. Too plausible is boring in this genre.

The writers had a fair stab at explaining away the mother's seemingly irrational behaviour - the alcoholism, psych's assessment  - and while not entirely successful, they didn't really veer into the 'we've seen it all before territory'. The kids keeping a secret felt real - this, unfortunately, happens when they're exposed to highly abnormal behaviour as documented time and again.

Esther's overt sexuality was disturbing, and it's my hunch that this was a shock tactic that was reined in by an ending later dropped in to facilitate said behaviour legitimately on the screen. The whole 'twist' didn't really add another dimension to the film, and it lacked the raw power of 'Bully' for example - granted, different story, age, but an example of how to graze that topic, IMO.

So, while this film was not perfect, it was entertaining enough, a showcase for what will surely become a very talented actress, and an encouraging direction/pointer for the horror genre going forward.

Andrew

Saw this finally the other day.  Boy was I ever surprised!  It was really, really good!

Production values were fantastic.  Acting all across the board was phenomenal.  Violence, as many have already said, is quite high and well done.

Everything just had a very realistic feel and look to it.

The "twist" actually came off as very well done, and shocking. I knew the twist going in and thought it would be just downright stupid, but it didn't play out that way at all.  The final scenes with her and the Dad were quite shocking, and again, well done.

I read that the budget was around $50 Million, which is both shocking and apparent.  Wish we could get more "big budget" horror flicks like this that actually deliver.

I was very, very impressed in every way with this movie and I'm literally shocked to be saying that.

Great flick!

God, I hated this movie.  Just an over-manipulative pile of shite.  Every horror cliche that's ever existed is crammed into this one.  It's nothing but a blatant Omen rip-off and it also "borrows" scares from like a half dozen other movies.  

Uhh...was anyone actually surprised when it turned out Esther wasn't dead in the greenhouse?  Didn't think so.  Despite the best efforts of the dramatic soundtrack.

That final scene goes down in my book as maybe the worst of all time.  The little deaf girl firing the gun into the ice?   Uh-huh.  And that tag line before the Mom kicks Esther...I'm sure that had 'em howlin' in the theaters.

I did like one thing...Peter Saarsgaard getting killed.  We hate his character so bad by that time, it was a pleasure watching him get the Norman Bates treatment.  That almost made the movie worth it.

Think i'll mail this back to netflix with a "burn this" note attached.