E.D.

Sorry, thought you knew my persona by now. I'm very crass. I think its funny. Sorry that you felt you needed to write thast whole explanation. I never gaged it as a personal attack. Just how I talk to people here. Most know to let me slide by now.

I'm pissed that most people seem to side with you. Twat. - its a joke...

James

Quoted from jwent6688 E.D. Sorry, thought you knew my persona by now. I'm very crass. I think its funny. Sorry that you felt you needed to write thast whole explanation. I never gaged it as a personal attack. Just how I talk to people here. Most know to let me slide by now. I'm pissed that most people seem to side with you. Twat. - its a joke... James

LOL, you got me. filed for future reference. Twat. =p <-- sarcastic emoticon

E.D.

Finally saw this, and boy oh berto, was I ever impressed!

Just a great movie on all fronts from the opening to closing frame.  Well put together, beautifully shot, well acted, intense, scary, down right enjoyable.  What worked for me personally, most of all, was that it was played for reals and took itself completely seriously.

IMO, this is a perfect example of how a good movie doesn't have to follow any preset structure.  Are there 3 acts here? Who gives a shit?  I sure don't.  It worked on every level.


SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS

I called the old woman as the devil as soon as I saw here, and stuck to my guns as things unfolded.  When it was down to the final 2, I told my girlfriend not to be surprised if one of the dead characters really isn't dead at all, and watch for the old woman.  BUT, I also said over and over that I really had no idea what was going to happen or who would finally be out antag.

As a horror connoisseur and writer, I tend to be able to pick out a hiding antag pretty easily, and unravel a twisty plot.  But even though I was correct, I didn't know, and I was kept "guessing" far into the movie.

I think one reason this worked so well in terms of keeping its audience guessing, was the fact that there was such a big cast of extras, doing all sorts of different things throughout the movie.  You've got the guards (well acted and fleshed out, not your cookie cutter variety, either), you've got the cops (again, although maybe a bit cliche, well rounded, deep, with personalities), you've got the firemen (who I thought were a great diversion), and you've got all the office workers, as well as the one dude's fiancee, who seemed to appear out of nowhere (I really thought she'd have a bigger role in the reveal, so I give credit where due for including this red herring).

Shot on a budget of approximately $10 Million, it grossed $57 Million WW.  This looked like a much bigger budget to me, and IMO, everyone did a great job working with what they had.  I'm actually surprised it didn't do better at the box office.  Word of mouth seemed to be pretty good, and RT had it at 55%, which is pretty good for a horror movie.

I think Mr. Shyamalan's tarnished image may have been the issue here. Hopefully, this well done film will redeem him a bit.  I like the concept of his new Production Company, and hope the next 2 flicks will be as good as this was.

Don't worry M. Night, I'm still a fan!