Wonderful character development!

Just perfect...

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Saw this on a rented dvd. Been on my radar for a long time. The plot is about a couple and their infant baby who moves into the backwoods of Ireland. The male (Joseph Mawle) who is an expert in microbiology has come to inspect the trees for clearance. He is warned by the local (Michael McElhatton) not to trespass the forests as the "hallows" will trespass into his house n steal his baby. One nite the window of the infant's room is broken but the couple is assured by the local cop (Michael Smiley) not to worry as some bird must have done it. In the beginning one will wonder why the scene of the wife (Bojana Novakovic) removing the iron grill is shown. Even the repair guy tells the husband that his wife shudnt have removed the iron grills. There is an explanation for that but not a logical one. Even the film became a lil silly towards the end. The film moves at a decent pace n from the beginning there is a sense of dread. Also whenever a baby is in peril, the film becomes even more tension filled. Tension is maintained throughout n the effects were pretty good. Some may be bored as there is not enuff creature action n the body count is almost zero. But if u enjoy atmospheric horror film with enuff moments of tension then u will enjoy this film. I wish Michael Smiley's role was bigger as i like that actor's comic timings n his face itself is smiley like his surname.

This is a very special horror film... because it's a horror film! This flick really does meet all the criteria of the genre... Secluded house in the woods; Check. Something strange happening in the woods; Check. Monsters of fairy tales and legend; Check. A newlywed couple with a newborn child; Check. Tension to create fear; Check. Atmosphere to give a nice spooky eerieness; Check. Special effects to make you shake and shudder; Check.The only thing this appears to be missing is a priest and a few teenagers, but hey! I can live without them.When I read the blurb of the story I knew I had to watch the film. Adam's (Mawle) new job as a woodsman in Ireland's last forest, brings his family to a secluded millhouse. On one of his investigations of the woodland, he comes across the carcass of a dead animal, which has a strange substance growing out of it. Taking a sample, he finds it to be a living organism... one that can destroy it's hosts cells. But before he can make the report other, more violent events occur. At first, he believes it's the locals as they see him as the enemy since he works for the men wanting to pulp the trees. But before long, he and Claire (Novakovic) begin to realise that it's not the locals they need to be afraid of.The film is beautifully shot and the opening sequence sets the atmosphere for the rest of the movie very well. Though the new family are smiling and looking forward to a prosperous future, the overcast sky gives the feeling of a storm ready to break... things are not going to be sunny for this family. The pace is quite meandering and builds slowly into soft peaks, this has the effect of letting the tension and unease get under your skin. Not just a hack slash and scream film. Along with some strong acting from the cast, it makes the film very enjoyable.The thing I liked about the characters is their ordinariness. This makes them more believable and easier to relate too. The only actor that appears to go a little over the top is the Police Officer, Garda Davey (Smiley), though I do know people of the same temperament as him so I can overlook it. It's the subtleness of the actor's and actress' portrayals that make this film stronger, especially Mawle, who does a good concerned wonder.However, there are a few drawbacks. The main one being the creatures themselves. these are meant to be the Fairies and Banshees, etc, of Irish myth. But, to me, they look nothing like you would expect. It would have been nice to see smaller Fairies and screechier Banshees, for a start. But these are minor things, they may have added a strength to the overall film, however, as they are, they don't detract the viewer from the story at all.If you're a lover of real horror films then this one is for you. It's one I'll be only too happy to watch again... and again...

I was a little hesitant about taking Leliana and Tony to this one, but since they liked The Witch so much, I decided why not? It was so worth it! The fairies were beautiful, the mommy and daddy were so nice, and the baby was adorable! I just thought it was wonderful how the fairies offered to babysit for free, and they took such good care of Finn. Heck, they're probably better parents than me and my husband! And it was so touching when the mom took care of the little fairy baby.After the movie, Leliana kept asking me if she could live with fairies too. I said of course she could, so now we're planning a trip to Ireland next month. She's so excited!

I usually trust IMDb ratings when there has been a relative high amount of reviews and when I saw the lowish rating on this movie (5.7/10) I was about to give it a miss however I was pleasantly surprised I did not. After watching the movie and reflecting on its current rating I came to the conclusion that some people expect way too much from directors and actors these days. I can only suspect these low ratings come from die hard horror fans. I found the setting and premises whilst not original to still be engrossing enough. A mystic Irish forest, a young family and strange neighbors. The lighting was fantastic and their was a plausible reason the family was there (the father was a tree scientist) and they were not just strangely seeking to renovate an random old house in the middle of nowhere - which is the premise for a lot of typical horror movies. I liked the hybrid mix between science and the supernatural. Having and explanation as to why there are freaky monsters running around it makes it more believable. The black parasitic sludge. Some people complain about the slow build up but I thought it was great suspense. The foreboding mood was engrossing. Yes there were a few cheap jump scares but hey most movies have them. Some people explained the characters were one dimensional however I thought the actors came across as quite believable. An occasional pot smoking scientific new father, a young mother trying her best to raise a child. They try to call the police at the first instance of real trouble (unlike most horror movies in which the characters seem to try to "tough it out despite the fact that there is some quite freaky stuff going on. I have to say I really enjoyed this movie and liked the UK/Irish production. I felt the characters were real and I would like to see more horror movies come from Europe. (Pan Labyrinth, 28 Days Later were all good). Europe has a lot of great superstitious mythology. I find these movies a lot more palatable than the shallow crap Hollywood churns out.