AWWW Look at the crawling baaaaaaby. Let’s stab it.

Suspense/Horror (2008)

First-time director Bryan Bertino gives a try in the horror genre where a couple is terrorized by three strangers, with no motive. (“Because you were home.”) Well, the suspense and the horror elements that he utilizes were pretty interesting. He doesn’t take advantage of killers popping out of corners with the big “BOO!” kind of scares. There are times where there is loud bangs and other noises that make you jump, but I love it when he utilizes the eerie-ness of masks slowly fading out of darkness, and slowly sinking back in. When we first see a “stranger” in the house, you would expect a big sound effect sting that makes the audience jump & the killer attacks the victim. But no…. It was a slow and silent entrance…. he just glares at his victim from behind. The tension increases, the audience expects an attack. Yet no, he just returns into the darkness. Now the audience realizes that the victims are being watched from inside the house and are anticipating when the killers will attack, which makes the film much more suspenseful knowing the fact that they are already in the house, and the victims have no clue. That simple eerie amosphere made the movie more unique than recent horror movies being released. The characters did stupid things at times, however with the emotional conflicts currently occurring if I were to put myself in their shoes I probably would’ve handled the situation much worse. (I probably just got negative thoughts from my readers just now ). Another negative aspect was that the suspense drawn on too long towards the end that I grew tired of that suspenseful feeling and just awaited the next killer’s attack. For a first time film in the director’s seat, Bertino could’ve done MUCH worse giving us a load of crap with random gore and chase scenes that’s been done over and over again.

I rate it a Salty. Enjoyed it, but I think it’s a better one-time rented movie, rather than a one-time theater movie.