Single mother Rebecca (a fine performance by Frances O'Connor), her sweet son George (well played by Chandler Riggs), and George's jerky older brother Buddy (a sound turn by Joel Courtney) go to a remote country house to take care of their ailing grandmother (an excellent portrayal by Shirley Knight). However, things get grim and dangerous after it's discovered that dear old granny made some kind of sinister pact with some maleficent evil supernatural forces.
Director Peter Cornwell, working from a compact (if somewhat incoherent) script by Matt Greenberg, keeps the absorbing premise moving along at a steady pace, expertly crafts both a strong rural atmosphere and a spooky gloom-doom mood, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable everyday reality, and pulls out the creepy and stirring stops for the wild climax. Moreover, the solid acting by the capable cast holds this picture together: Riggs makes for a sympathetic protagonist, Knight cuts a deeply unsettling figure as one nasty old bat, and there are sturdy supporting contributions from Dylan McDermott as the happy-go-lucky Jim Swann, Mark Duplass as the bitter Uncle Lanning, and Eddie Jones as the loyal Pastor Gregory Lake. Both Byron Shah's crisp widescreen cinematography and Reza Safinia's shivery score are up to par. However, this film is slightly undermined by a few annoying cheap scares and an occasionally murky narrative. But overall it's a pretty good little fright flick.
Director Peter Cornwell, working from a compact (if somewhat incoherent) script by Matt Greenberg, keeps the absorbing premise moving along at a steady pace, expertly crafts both a strong rural atmosphere and a spooky gloom-doom mood, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable everyday reality, and pulls out the creepy and stirring stops for the wild climax. Moreover, the solid acting by the capable cast holds this picture together: Riggs makes for a sympathetic protagonist, Knight cuts a deeply unsettling figure as one nasty old bat, and there are sturdy supporting contributions from Dylan McDermott as the happy-go-lucky Jim Swann, Mark Duplass as the bitter Uncle Lanning, and Eddie Jones as the loyal Pastor Gregory Lake. Both Byron Shah's crisp widescreen cinematography and Reza Safinia's shivery score are up to par. However, this film is slightly undermined by a few annoying cheap scares and an occasionally murky narrative. But overall it's a pretty good little fright flick.