I really liked this movie. Being as I stumbled upon it on Neflix and never heard of it at all, there was no level of expectation. I took it for what it was and this is my kind of movie.

The film begins with promise; a great plot, based upon a soul sucking entity that at first appears to be a man with a split personality. It works well, with a battle of intellects between a psychiatrist (played by Jeffrey DeMunn) and his daughter (also a psychiatrist) played by Julianne Moore. The scene with Frances Conroy (as Mrs Bernburg) coming face to face with her deceased son in the body of Jonathan Rhys Meyers is superb. Sadly the film nose dives with one key plot area - that of doctor Dr. Charles Foster (John Peakes) and his illness (presumably transmitted from Rhys-Meyers' multiple personality character, being left untreated...Why would a doctor (with ample opportunity to visit another doctor in the hospital where he worked) not seek an urgent diagnosis for a life threatening and uncomfortable condition? Worse still, the plot device is used a second time with a second doctor! Other let downs include the time line issue with Monty Hughes (Charles Techman) being too young to have been a young boy in 1918 (though in other aspects that part of the story works well) and the "Granny" who is supposedly doing the work of the Lord, being more like a demonist in her methods. As a Christian film it fails, but as a detective/thriller film it works. It could have worked as a Christian film, had the fates of the main characters been different, with the message of good triumphing over evil unambiguous.

I quite enjoyed this, it's one of those films I saw the trailer, was wowed by it, and wanted to be utterly blown away by. Excellent in a number of ways, principally the performances of Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the latter in particular fantastic. A very dark story, with some cracking concepts. Lost its way a bit when the Witch Doctor was introduced, those scenes were so over the top they spoiled it a bit.I wonder if M Night Shyamalan took anything from this when it came to developing Split.Some genuinely creepy, dark moments, not least the moments with Cara's father, and then daughter suffering at the hands of David. To begin with it's a little slow, the directing could have been a bit punchier, but as it opens up and moves along it becomes rather engrossing.Dark, watchable, but could have been so much better, 7/10

From the beginning, this movie can't decide what it is. A psychological thriller? A supernatural horror movie? Something else? I have no problem with a film that spans genres, or ever creates a new genre, but this film seems to fall into a narrow crack between genres.The story seems to be a hodgepodge of elements of other movies, including Soultaker (1990), The Green Mile (1999), and Fallen (1998). At just about every critical point in the film, my wife and/or I could predict the next event, or at least narrow it down to two possibilities. Very few surprises or original ideas.Julianne Moore's acting is palatable if not inspiring. Jonathan Rhys Meyers' acting is forced and cliché' and he comes across as a budget Jim Caviezel or an improved Eric Roberts.Also, so the movie makes a few references to "Night of the Living Dead," thus violating MST3K's Tom Servo's precept "Man, never show a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie." If it weren't so well filmed, with some great shots and scenery, I would have given this movie one star.