Synopsis: A social worker (Renée Zellweger) fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected.This film was apparently completed back in 2007 and not released until it hit DVD recently. I really have no idea why as it's actually a decent little horror flick I thought. Sure, it's a bit (a lot) cliched and pretty much just a cross between Pulse (don't answer the phone!) and The Orphan (creepy girl) too often, but it's actually fairly well done and sort of fun despite the predictability.
Jodelle Ferland plays the creepy girl and she's really good. I like how her sweet, adorable character can suddenly bring the evil, yet it's still sort of subtle. I like Bradley Cooper so I think his role was way too small in this. To me he was sort of evening out Renée Zellweger's screen time as I'm not a fan of her's and think she's the same whiny role she always plays in this, where she looks like she's constantly either confused or trying not to start crying.
The movie starts out as a drama but shifts to a more suspenseful psychological horror film, revealing a bit at a time and this makes it pretty engaging. The screenplay is good and the film is well made I thought, as it sets a nice spooky atmosphere but doesn't really overdo things. It's paced very nicely and never really boring. Without spoiling anything, I'll say I'd have personally preferred a darker ending, instead of this one that felt a bit more "Hollywood."
Overall it's not highly memorable, but I think it's pretty effective and entertaining.
6.5/10
