Kevin Costner plays an author who, after a messy divorce, moves to the country with his kids. They purchase an old house on a ranch, and the kids discover a mysterious mound of dirt while playing in the woods. It turns out the mound may hold a long forgotten secret of mysterious ground dwellers that practice some funky mind control.

Sounds terrible, but this was pretty decent. Costner, who's never turned in a bad role, is a very good hero. He was believable and didn't go exploring after he heard the "bumps in the night". The kids are good as well. I wasn't too surprised to see James Gammon in the mix, it's good to see him around since "Appaloosa".

(SPOILER ALERT) A lot of folks are unsatisfied with the ending, but I really liked it. In the picture of the family, you can see a figure struggling out of the mound fire, and you're not quite sure if it's Costner. Then, one of the creatures comes up behind the boy.

I thought the ending was very interesting. It leaves the fate of Costner and his son in the air, and I thought that was a much better ending than "They all lived happily ever after" or something like that.

This was a cool movie, good acting, decent horror, kind of slow-moving. Goes great with popcorn and a couple buddies or a spouse/girlfriend.

Another year, another film about a single father and a his offspring moving to a new home and becoming involved in some creepy antics typically involving the daughter. The last one I saw like this was Robert De Niro's HIDE AND SEEK but they seem to make them all the time, and THE NEW DAUGHTER is no different from all the rest. I expected more from director Luiso Berdejo, the man who wrote REC.

The story is of the usual content: Kevin Costner and his annoying kids move to a new house with a haunted reputation. Some interest arises from an ancient burial mound in his back garden, but the plot is so ambiguous that the viewer never really gets to enjoy that side of it. Instead this mediocre film just sort of burbles along aimlessly. The cast are okay but going through the motions here. Costner has his usual likable everyman charm but his character is a dour bore and the kids earn no sympathy from the viewer.

Samantha Mathis and Noah Taylor play in support as a teacher and professor respectively, but are wasted in minor parts, particularly the latter. The film works hard to remain realistic throughout with mere hints of shadows and the like but blows it with the silly, typically over the top climax. The abrupt ending is a kick in the teeth. Overall this is another disappointment from Hollywood.

This is perhaps the worse Costner film except for that Water World thing. The movie starts out great. It has a 4 to 5 star beginning. The setting is a fictional town called Mercy, South Carolina. PLOT SPOILER: It is based on Bishopville, home of the infamous Lizard Man. After Costner gets the boot from his wife, he moves into a fine southern plantation home with his snotty teenage daughter and normal son. The daughter becomes obsessed with an old Indian burial mound in their back yard (funny that the state hasn't declared it an archaeological treasure and put a fence around it). The house has a strange "history," but only the black people in town seem to know it. Louisa, played by Ivana Baquero, does an excellent job as the moody teen girl. It reminded me of the teen girl in Uncle Buck. You just want to smack her. The plot is predictable, which isn't all bad, after all we knew how The Passion was going to end and we went to see it. Rate this one low on your Netflix list.