I don't really understand these overly positive reviews. The movie is incredibly boring and felt more like a drama or something the like than a horror movie. I personally did not enjoy the acting at all, especially from the children, it just felt very try-hard. It's not worth the 1+ hour you spent watching it at all. I can imagine that MAYBE you'd enjoy the movie slightly more if you hadn't known the twist and went in with a completely blank slate but even then I don't think I personally would've enjoyed it. It's really incredibly boring.

Boring the whole way through. I was expecting a riveting twist at the end, as promised, but it was predictable. All the ghost-related stuff was gimmicky, too, and I found myself lacking any emotion for the movie. The characters were as bland as cardboard, the plot was cliche and the atmosphere was nonexistent. Just another MEH movie.

I love this film, so much that I have watched it many times and still never tire of it. A couple of things do annoy me slightly like some of the plot is just spelt out too obviously but apart from that I really cannot find fault.The acting is very good, even the children - especially Anne are exceptional. The constant low lighting and over panning really help the over all eerie feel and sense of the severity and urgency regarding the children's "condition. It also gives a very claustrophobic feel to the point where you can see how much the lifestyle would drain anyone to the point of distraction. And I genuinely felt for the characters in this one, many emotions portrayed very well. "The twist is fantastic and you really do not see it coming till the end unlike many films that have tried to re create this since.SO, to sum up-I would recommend this highly to anyone and I don't recommend horrors lightly as I'm very picky and don't frighten easily!

Writer-director Alejandro Amenábar has visual imagination and panache to spare, however his screenplay about a woman and her two sick children living in a gloomy mansion in the Channel Islands in 1945 doesn't offer many new tricks in the haunted house genre (even the colorless title tells you that). Nicole Kidman is imposing and impenetrable as the proprietress of the manor who can't seem to explain the absence of her husband--and who keeps her precocious kids out of the sun because they're allergic to ultra-violet light. Kidman is one of the best actresses we have working today; her film selections continue to be intriguing (she isn't afraid to take risks, which is clear with her work here). She is also very lovely to watch. Fionnula Flanagan is flawless as the new housekeeper who has arrived mysteriously (with a mute assistant and a gardener in tow) after the previous staff has vanished into the night. In fact, all the performers excel with this material, however the shuddery scenario is stuffed with red herrings that only serve to weigh down the ultimate explanation. Amenábar stages a grand scene near the end in a graveyard, but he's less successful at paring down the dross and giving the viewer a really good fright (instead, piano music at night drives Kidman into hysterics, while her taunting daughter teases her endlessly with facetious comments). The picture does work on occasion, this mostly due to the acting and the handsome production. *** from ****