Plot: When a family relocate, the discovery of a mysterious burial ground leads the father to abuse its power.

I was hoping to have seen the 1989 original before checking this out. Sadly my limited free-time preventing me from doing this.


So I went in with nothing to compare it with and having no knowledge of the original story.


What I got what I felt was a pretty decent horror flick. Our main characters set-up certainly on certain horror tropes. But I felt the execution of them made them perfectly fine to invest with.


It was not afraid to portray the strangeness of the location of the laws and mythology surrounding it. Hearing them be explained certainly had me thinking where we're going with this story in terms of themes and the story developed them well and made it worthy watch.


While the acting wasn't exceptional, it never down-graded the film. Kid actor Jete Laurence did a pretty good job for a film where her character is required to have a lot of screen-time and dialogue that was essential to move the story along.
Despite Jason Clarke not doing anything wrong, I just felt he was mis-cast in this. It didn't seem the type of role for him and I feel someone else could have made that role a bit more memorable.
It was great seeing John Lithgow in this, as not only does he come out as a great guy in interviews, he is a very accomplished actor that you struggle to think of a bad role.


I felt the films strongest aspects was the production design, and the gruesome make-up for both human and animal actors. The story is pretty solid and it moves along at a pleasant pace and it did one very shocking moment that I felt was very well executed.


However, it certainly has its slower moments that can drag it down and the scares weren't that effective as they were supposed to be for the most part.


It's certainly a passable film. But I can't see myself watching it again. It has however made me want to see what the original, as it's 1989 release has me suspecting that the tone and vibe might be a little bit more playful and thrilling when you compare it to other horrors that came out around that time.


Rating: 7/10