It's one thing to judge this just by the message it is transporting or by the way the movie realized that same idea. I think the idea behind the movie is really good. And while this is one of the better efforts the former OC girl is involved with, this still lacks a lot of things great horror movies have.

Mischa Barton and the other actors in this look good, the framing and shooting of the movie does not need to enhance anything there. Some scenes could do with some enhancing in the acting area though. The dialog could be a bit better too. If you can overlook all those things, you may be able to see this in a better light than it actually represents though ...

If you're into this genre, I believe you'll find this well worth your time--especially if you're a Mischa Barton fan! I was afraid I might be a bit disappointed after reading some of the reviews I found here, so even though I'd looked forward to seeing this movie, I'd tempered my expectations going into it. But I needn't have worried as I very much enjoyed it! The only criticism I found to be at all true was that perhaps there wasn't much development of the secondary characters—yet I didn't feel that took away from the overall story.

I thought it was very well paced and more than sufficiently scary. I love a good scary movie, but I'm much more into the psychological kind of scary than the slasher kind of blood and guts movies. So anybody expecting the latter would be disappointed, but if you like a movie that makes you think a little bit and puts you more than a little on edge, this is it (it didn't help that there are some pretty strong winds outside right now, and at one point while they were on their search in the movie, a broom I keep on my front porch got blown over and clattered against both the door and handrails out there, about 10 feet from where I was watching this movie!).

And I don't understand the critics of Mischa Barton. Although I'll admit I am a fan of hers anyway, hence wanting to watch this movie in the first place, I honestly thought she did a very good job in this movie! I also really liked her in Walled In as well as Homecoming—so I'm finding her to be a surprisingly good actress for this genre of movies. But it doesn't hurt that there was a love story here as well since I also think she handles that well too, along with the introspective type of roles that more dramatic romances have as opposed to the rom-com type of stuff. I can't say I knew Ryan Egghold prior to this, but I thought he handled his role fine too, as did the secondary characters despite not having too much to do overall.

I won't give any spoilers here, but despite enjoying watching scary movies alone (as I just did this one),I almost wish I'd watched it with someone so I could debate the ending that I felt was left a bit open to interpretation. Or at least, I know how I believe I interpreted it—but I could see it being explained another way too! So as the one reviewer mentioned discussing it with his fellow movie-watcher for two hours afterward, I could easily see having such a conversation. So all that is to say, unless you're expecting a blood and guts movie or want a really fast-paced scarefest, I believe many fans of this genre would find this worth the watch! And although I only rented this for now, I plan on buying it so I'll have it for my permanent collection as I would and will definitely watch it again.

I usually try to avoid movies where the writer and director are the same person. There's a reason for this - and this film is a prime example. You NEED that second opinion - there are long, boring scenes that no competent director would have left intact. The basic story could have been done better, but there was so little development other than artsy montages. The production values were actually pretty good, but the story was weak and the plot incoherent. I think the scenes were not chronological - but it was not obvious if they were flashbacks, dreams, or what. The acting wasn't bad either, but without character development I just didn't care about these people.