I am drawn to watch horror movies, mostly because I like them as an art form, rather than trying to evaluate how scary they are. I want to defend this movie from the readers whom disliked it, even though you all gave good supportive reasons for your negative reviews. There's plenty here that will please certain viewers.
First, this horror movie pits a realistic family against credible threats, which makes it easier for the viewer to sympathize with their problems. This is a family of three somewhat neurotic people, so obsessed with having a great time on this vacation that they set you up for the fun of seeing it all be destroyed. The parents are practically fighting with each other to see which one can do a better job of protecting their overly sensitive child. Early on, there's a surprising accident where they hit the deer, and the main thing on their minds is how this might mentally damage their son. Then they find more intimidating problems from several hunters with guns, miffed that these "city dwellers" have crashed into their prized trophy. Enter Otis, who's obsessively hateful towards George, the protective father, and everything he and his wife and son stand for. This creates a tension that prevails through the rest of the story.
I thought the Otis character was very well portrayed as both threatening and realistic; he reminded me of some gym teachers I've feared from junior high school. Meanwhile, George, who's supposed to be watching out for his family's safety, could not foresee what a threat Otis could become. He was all wrapped around the axle that Otis hated him for an accident which wasn't his fault, and he was obsessing about not being able to make peace with him. The incompetence of this "protective" father is highlighted again when a bullet is shot through his wall. It never occurs to him that it could have hit him, his wife or son, nor does he associate it with Otis, the psychotic hunter, even though we, the viewers, do. Sure, he's upset by the bullet, but not enough to take any precautions against being hit by another one.
Then, to add to the fun, the boy sees psychedelic images. I thought that these were entertaining to watch, even though at first I didn't know what was going on. It added to the tensions of this movie to see the boy frightened by his own peculiar illusions, and we wouldn't like this to happen to us either.
Don't worry, I'm not trying to analyze the entire movie, but since others have bad-mouthed the sex scene, here is why I thought it was effective. The parents could already see that things were going wrong with their dream trip, the kid was now having wakeful nightmares in his bed, and are the parents aware of this? Of course not: They are having a very energetic sex scene. Not only are they oblivious to the fact that their son could easily hear them, and if he happened to leave his bedroom, catch them in the act, but they are also oblivious to Otis, watching, like a spook in their window. It was a good horror movie sex scene; Otis is observing their every move, and he doesn't even care that they may see him. I was wondering what was going on in Otis' mind. It was obviously something perverted, or at least not nice.
As for the monster, I think it was an apparition sent by the boy to drive Otis to his destruction. For such a "hungry" monster, I don't recall it eating anybody. And as for the symbolism in this movie, it reflected upon how easily blind hatred manifests itself in causing intense fear and physical harm to innocent people; the things that good horror movies are made of. In the case of this previously timid child, now he was calling upon supernatural forces to take a deadly revenge.
To sum it up, even if it is not quite as great a movie as written up on the DVD box, many horror movie fans should find this worth watching.
First, this horror movie pits a realistic family against credible threats, which makes it easier for the viewer to sympathize with their problems. This is a family of three somewhat neurotic people, so obsessed with having a great time on this vacation that they set you up for the fun of seeing it all be destroyed. The parents are practically fighting with each other to see which one can do a better job of protecting their overly sensitive child. Early on, there's a surprising accident where they hit the deer, and the main thing on their minds is how this might mentally damage their son. Then they find more intimidating problems from several hunters with guns, miffed that these "city dwellers" have crashed into their prized trophy. Enter Otis, who's obsessively hateful towards George, the protective father, and everything he and his wife and son stand for. This creates a tension that prevails through the rest of the story.
I thought the Otis character was very well portrayed as both threatening and realistic; he reminded me of some gym teachers I've feared from junior high school. Meanwhile, George, who's supposed to be watching out for his family's safety, could not foresee what a threat Otis could become. He was all wrapped around the axle that Otis hated him for an accident which wasn't his fault, and he was obsessing about not being able to make peace with him. The incompetence of this "protective" father is highlighted again when a bullet is shot through his wall. It never occurs to him that it could have hit him, his wife or son, nor does he associate it with Otis, the psychotic hunter, even though we, the viewers, do. Sure, he's upset by the bullet, but not enough to take any precautions against being hit by another one.
Then, to add to the fun, the boy sees psychedelic images. I thought that these were entertaining to watch, even though at first I didn't know what was going on. It added to the tensions of this movie to see the boy frightened by his own peculiar illusions, and we wouldn't like this to happen to us either.
Don't worry, I'm not trying to analyze the entire movie, but since others have bad-mouthed the sex scene, here is why I thought it was effective. The parents could already see that things were going wrong with their dream trip, the kid was now having wakeful nightmares in his bed, and are the parents aware of this? Of course not: They are having a very energetic sex scene. Not only are they oblivious to the fact that their son could easily hear them, and if he happened to leave his bedroom, catch them in the act, but they are also oblivious to Otis, watching, like a spook in their window. It was a good horror movie sex scene; Otis is observing their every move, and he doesn't even care that they may see him. I was wondering what was going on in Otis' mind. It was obviously something perverted, or at least not nice.
As for the monster, I think it was an apparition sent by the boy to drive Otis to his destruction. For such a "hungry" monster, I don't recall it eating anybody. And as for the symbolism in this movie, it reflected upon how easily blind hatred manifests itself in causing intense fear and physical harm to innocent people; the things that good horror movies are made of. In the case of this previously timid child, now he was calling upon supernatural forces to take a deadly revenge.
To sum it up, even if it is not quite as great a movie as written up on the DVD box, many horror movie fans should find this worth watching.