Eater of children.....

FlashCallahan

score 1/10

Ethan Hawke and his family and cardigan, move into a new house, where he can settle down and write his new book.

The trouble is, the family who lived there before are the subject of his new book, and they were all hanged in the back garden.

But alls not lost, Hawke goes to the attic and finds that someone has left some home movies, with the added bonus of seeing the families get killed.

Soon strange things start to happen, and someone dressing up as 'the crow' starts to haunt Hawkes mind, and cardigan.........

I remember when I first saw the trailer, and though this could be something special. The reviews for this are pretty solid too from the public, so my expectations were high.

If you've seen the trailer, you have seen all the best bits from the film, apart from the lawn owner scene.

What I must say is that the soundtrack is excellent, and I've never heard 'boards of Canada' used to such effect.

But that's all the positive remarks I have about this drivel. Hawke is okay, but the rest of his family are so mundane and unimportant, you really couldn't care less about them.

Trevor has night terrors, and nothing ever becomes of this (apart from the fact that it explains why he has to keep his door shut) and his wife just moans throughout the whole movie.

Jump scares are the order of the day here, rather than creating an atmosphere, we are treated to screeching violins and snakes under boxes. Baghoul, or however you spell his name is a mixture, of the crow, gene Simmons and Heath ledger in the dark night.

Even the scene where Hawke realise that Baghoul is in every home movie is ruined, thanks to the trailer. Deputy so and so pops up every now and again to provide some sort of comic relief, but it feels like the ,Akers were trying to inject humour ala Insidious, and it just doesn't work.

Just when it gets too confusing for Hawke. Vincent D'onofrio skypes him and tells him the secrets of the symbols and Baghoul.

But hey, it's too late, his daughter double crosses him, in one of the most boring plot twists I have ever seen.

It's a huge disappointment, even usurping Taken 2 in disappointments of the year.

Many will disagree, but really, film makers must make sure, they leave something out of the trailer, because it ruined the film.

That and glow in the dark poison, and cardigans and the fact that when Baghoul popped up at the end, I thought of Mortal Kombat 2 on the super Nintendo and remembered how to activate reptile...

FlashCallahan 20 October 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2691454/