I liked this to start with. It's conventional, but I think they set it up well for a ride into the depths of horror.
So that should have picked up speed right after the witch was released. There was some spooky ghosting around the house, but ... the little girl was not scary. We even had the closing the fridge door jump - if they have to resort to that then something's gone wrong.
But don't worry - there were other versions of the beast to come. And I think that's the problem: they didn't have to focus on one character, so all characters became a bit bland when it was their turn, and you never got the essence of the original beast.
Then you've got the back story, which they returned to a few times with an unnecessary complication involving the relatives of the persecutors. Then they threw in a dose of guilt from each character's life. And it all got a bit cluttered, losing focus on the original elements.
Think of the Blair witch - you get some sketchy exposition at the start, the audience fills in the details, we go to a lonely place, all the elements are in place, and bit by bit the witch simply shows what she can do, raising the stakes steadily without once appearing on screen.
The final insult was some dreadful dialogue between father and daughter as they cowered in the basement. And oh - there was another bloody twist after that too.
Keep it simple!
So that should have picked up speed right after the witch was released. There was some spooky ghosting around the house, but ... the little girl was not scary. We even had the closing the fridge door jump - if they have to resort to that then something's gone wrong.
But don't worry - there were other versions of the beast to come. And I think that's the problem: they didn't have to focus on one character, so all characters became a bit bland when it was their turn, and you never got the essence of the original beast.
Then you've got the back story, which they returned to a few times with an unnecessary complication involving the relatives of the persecutors. Then they threw in a dose of guilt from each character's life. And it all got a bit cluttered, losing focus on the original elements.
Think of the Blair witch - you get some sketchy exposition at the start, the audience fills in the details, we go to a lonely place, all the elements are in place, and bit by bit the witch simply shows what she can do, raising the stakes steadily without once appearing on screen.
The final insult was some dreadful dialogue between father and daughter as they cowered in the basement. And oh - there was another bloody twist after that too.
Keep it simple!