Well...I am glad I did not listen to this review of the movie!!! :rolleyes:

Because some compared it to certain Hitchcock scenes, does not mean this film is bad!!! Sorry excuse of a film??? Please list for us(enlighten me) on what you consider to be a good film......then I and others here will see where you are coming from with this statement above.

Just watched this last night......the film definitely had a Rear Window theme in the beginning(Which does not make this film bad in anyway).

I really enjoyed this movie throughout....and listening to the commentary which I still need to finish this evening gives all an idea of what the director was trying to do and why.....Michelle Pfeiffer is the central character in this film and does a very good job with her role!! It was also interesting to see Ford playing a role which is somewhat plain.......not running and gunning and swinging from vines in the jungle or playing a president in Air Force One!!! A pretty tame role for Ford until the end of the movie....

This is a keeper for me....I would recommend this film to friends and to others on the forum as one to at least rent if not own!!! :D

I rented it, but I think I may buy it, I thought it was a great movie. Though by about half way through the movie I did kinda guess how it would turn out in the end, I still think the overall story was good and everything else.

If you're unsure, rent it first .. Most of the movies in my collection are ones that I rented first :)

That's the one thing about the movie that pissed me off. It had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I'm sure it was meant to "throw you off", but it didn't have any relation to the story at all!! Pointless.
Other than that, a pretty good movie.

All in all, pretty good movie. Fell a little short of my expectations in some ways, but overall it was better than I expected.

Rent it! The whole movie is very predictable while the ending borders on the ridiculous.

I would have to agree....the ending was pretty hokey!!! The movie itself was still very spooky in relation to the happenings inside the house!!! Especially the bathroom scenes!!! :)

Don't waste your time or money renting this one.

I'm amazed at the number of people that seemed to enjoy this movie. I thought it was bad, predictable, and had the silliest last 40 minutes that I've seen in a long time. Big disappointment.

Obviously some people really loved this, but I would DEFINITELY suggest renting first.

Was actually surprised that I liked this movie. Went into it thinking it was going to be a goofy horror flick, but it actually was pretty good. Can't say that I liked the ending, but, it didn't cause me to hate the whole film either. I would rate this as a suspense movie more than a horror film and I would recommend renting before buying. Don't know how many time I would actually re-watch it.

Ditto! While I didn't hate it, I was grateful I hadn't done a purchase sight-unseen. No replay value for me.

Personally I thought it was a total load of tripe! It was about as suspenseful as Friday the 13th, using cheap scare tactics to TRY to get you to the edge of your seat instead of the storyline driving it- don't bother.

imo, it's a renter. at best. i thought the plot was very hokey. i did see the several nods toward hitchcock...but i don't think he would have nodded back.

very predictable with only a few scenes even worth mentioning. what really sucks, is that it could have been much better. don't want to give any spoilers away...but the possession thing could have turned this movie around if they had only played with it a little more.

that and the lake. cold, dark lakes are always scary...


cranky.

I must ask one thing: WHAT DUMB PERSON MADE THE TRAILER, THAT IS, SEEING THE TRAILER GAVE AWAY THE WHOLE FILM?

Otherwise this was a pretty good movie with a 50s horror film atmosphere.

Spoiler:
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View the last scene and watch carefully at the graveyard, do you see it? :)
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This movie fell into the great-sounding mediocre movie category for me. I think a decent sound system really helps make this one listenable/watchable.

Same thing for Twister - although Twister is much more about sound than WLB.

A Gawdawful Mess
 

This movie was a screaming bore. The first hour of the film was a screenwriter's nightmare, jam-packed with unbelievable plot contrivances and irrelevant exposition.

The actors do an excellent job, making the most of flimsy material (Pfeiffer is especially effective, given the shoddy characterization provided), but director Zemeckis overplays every moment in the film - effectively killing any impact that the final reel might have delivered.

One gets the impression that this is an indulgence Zemeckis has been waiting to film all his life, and he can't help but play it to the hilt. Too bad, because the first half's inane weaknesses *might* have been forgivable if the second half had been able to deliver. As it stands, by the time real thrills begin to kick in, the audience has endured one too many false jump scenes, and is beginning to drool Raisinet goo all over their sweaters.

Production values are excellent, and several of the sequences genuinely work: the bathtub sequence, the telephone sequence which immediately precedes it. Ford ain't the best actor in the world, but he is very effective in his later scenes.

The final sequence of the film is such a bizarre mix of cliches and absurdities that one can only laugh out loud. This payoff is not remotely worth the time we've invested in the film.

Overall, this movie gets ** out of ****, and the second star appears compliments of the excellent production values.

[Edited by cirhsein on 03-14-01 at 08:43 AM]

Thumbs down
 

Sorry, guys, I have to agree with the naysayers. It started ok, but midway through (for those who've seen, right at this point: ) it <i>completely</i> fell apart. You could almost feel your suspension of disbelief shatter into a trillion tiny pieces. After that, the movie just took step after laughable step downhill, and by the end it's an implausible, absurd mess. The ending in particular is nothing short of jaw-dropping pointlessness.

- David Stein

Just rented the movie and saw it tonight the best way to put it is to paraphrase Bart Simpson: I didn't think it was possible, but this sucks and blows at the same time. and to think I will never get those 129 minutes of my life back.

It went downhill from the moment I started the movie. There was no suspense in this movie other than when you knew something was about to happen and it would, but you kind of hoped it wouldn't.

By the way, is there any reason the name of the town was a throwback to early 80's singer Adam Ant?

I saw this tonight. It's not a terrific movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's fairly enjoyable. My principal beef is with the comparisons to Hitchcock. I suppose if EVERY thriller with plot twists can be compared to Hitchcock, then okay, but otherwise, this movie was way too reliant on surprise instead of suspense for me to think it was "Hitchcockian". There are certainly references to Hitch, but I don't think this movie in the aggregate captures the spirit of Hitch (on his better days).

I would agree the ending was ludicrous and the plot developments were fairly obvious, heck, some of the plot devices were obvious - - but still, this movie isn't a definite avoid. Worth a rental if you don't have anything else to watch, or want to see a thriller that isn't directed at teens.