So much potential here. I mean, what human with eyes doesn't want to watch Kevin Costner? I'd watch him stare at a wall for an hour. Sadly, this unique premise turned predictable (with the exepction of the last 30 seconds before the predictable end) and anticlimactic. It is not scary. The "boogie man/men" of the movie were filks in a latex suits with the same ol' weird face, high-pitched scream and long dirty fingernails. Other than Kevin, the acting was lacking and it made it hard for me to care about or connect with any character. It kills me when I see a cool premise turned to "meh". Watch if you'd like but it won't blow your socks of or scare you. (Two stars for the writer, one for Kevin).

Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order I come to The New Daughter from 2009Plot In A Paragraph: John (Kevin Costner) is a writer; whose wife has left him. He moves with his two middle-school children to a house off a dirt road in South Carolina. The property has an Indian burial mound, which fascinates his daughter, Louisa. She starts sleepwalking clutching a straw doll no one's seen before. She visits the mound often, staying late, coming home covered with mud. As Louisa's behaviour becomes more bizarre, John learns thehouse has a history and seeks out answers.A routine and cliché horror flick, KC does his solid reliable job as always and the supporting cast are all OK too. I'm not really a fan of horror movies though, as I find them routine and predictable. It has a few unresolved plot issues and pacing problems at times too. Although I was amused to see a Freddie Mercury poster on his daughters bedroom wall. KC remains as watchable as always, but these are not two of his better hours.

I really enjoyed the movie, it built itself up as any good movie should that's of the suspense/horror genre. The acting is very good in my opinion for what it is. If you liked Pet Cemetery which I did, this is better. Costner seems to enjoy flicks where most of the time one is left wondering how it really ended, this one produces the same. A really well written plot in my mind that is a twist above normal. Won't get into the details as that would spoil much to new viewers but reading other reviews I feel I have to clear things up as they seemed to have missed the subtle things as to the "why" STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT TO NOT KNOW!!!1st off from reviewing the review posts it seems that most missed that the very last thing after Louisa said "dont leave me daddy" to Costner was for him to see her turn into one of them (hence what the other beast was doing in knowing that she was about to turn and just waiting like a protector). That is when he ignited the explosive keeping his promise he wouldn't leave.The silly part imo was the very end when they show the reflection of what looks like them walking from out of the explosion right before the beast appears behind they boy and then the movie ends. That is something straight out of Stephen King's mind! What else stuck out in my head is that in the beginning they had a paved road in front of the house yet later throughout the movie all vehicles were driving down some one lane dirt road, even the cop car. They could have done it just as easily sticking with the paved road in my opinion or at least brought into the movie script there was a shortcut through the woods. It always annoys me when directors cant seem to grasp continuity along the small things, it's the small things that stand out.

This was a ridiculous movie and I was so disappointed that an excellent actor like Kevin Costner would waste his time which wasted our time. What parent would allow his children to stay in an unsafe place, ignore scratches on his daughter's back, leave them to talk with a woman when there is danger, and in the end leave his terrified little boy to blow himself up with his daughter. There was no reason to be in the tunnel. Who in their right mind would get out of a vehicle when there is a howling monster in front of them? And then the movie ended like someone pulled the plug and we sat there going what??? There was no point to this movie at all.