Combining horror with some serious drama is often a combination that simply doesn't work out all too well. It's extremely hard to do and to find and right balance but I think that this movie succeeded in this, by throwing in some good mystery that will leave you guessing and keep you watching, right till the very end.
I think the key to liking this movie is by knowing absolutely nothing about it, beforehand. Just let the story and all of its developments surprise you. The movie keeps throwing you around. The one moment it seems as if its going to be a horror, the other as if its going to be a drama and the other moment it's being a mystery-thriller, with also at times either supernatural elements in it and not. So basically the one moment the movie is being a realistic one, while the other its clearly being more than that. There is a lot going on but the movie never becomes a confusing one.
In all truth, this seems to be a movie that is being more common and similar to some of the genre movies that are made this present day. In that regard this movie seemed to be ahead of its time but it also has as a result that today's audience will probably see some of the twists coming from miles away already. About halfway through it already came apparent for me how the movie was going to end and without spoiling it, all I can say is that I wasn't wrong about it.
But having said that, that really doesn't mean that the movie won't keep surprising you with its moments and story developments. Even when you already figure out the ending way before the movie ends, you'll still have a more than great time watching this movie and it won't ruin the experience for you in any way.
I said before that this movie is quite similar to modern genre movies and this is true for its story but with its style and approach this movie perhaps feels more like a late '60's/'70's psychological horror movie, such as for instance "Rosemary's Baby" and to some extend also "The Exorcist".
It's quite funny. Tim Robbins of course has played plenty of leading roles but I don't remember him carrying a movie as much on his own as he did in this one. He truly is the one character this movie evolves around and I actually believe that he is in every single scene of this movie. He of course does a great job with it and the movie has a great supporting cast as well, with plenty of people in it that at the time were still pretty much big unknown ones but later became well known names, such as Eriq La Salle, Ving Rhames, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Alexander and Matt Craven.
An especially at the time quite unique and definitely original movie, that successfully combines drama, horror and mystery!
9/10
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