SnoopyStyle Dan (James Tupper), his wife Wendy (Anne Heche), and their three kids; Rebecca (Rebekah Brandes), Mary (Jennifer Stone), and Christopher (Carter Cabassa) move to the rural town of Stull, Kansas. Dan is the new pastor joining Pastor Kingsman (Clancy Brown). Noah (Ethan Peck) is taken with Rebecca and then strange things happen.For the first half, there are some things happening. None of it is scary. They are not creepy. They are at best functional horror tropes. The biggest issue is that nothing happens for a long time. The little bits of something are really nothing. Brandes is a little old to play a teen. Nobody in the family is that compelling. The horror only starts after the midway point and it's too late by then. Despite having Clancy Brown, even the scary parts are nothing. This is really a nothing horror. There is a structural loop around the story which could have been interesting but there is nothing connected to the loop. It all starts with the lust at first sight. He's too creepy for that. The only possible good part is still a nothing.

begob A new pastor and his family are welcomed by the church-goers in a remote town, but a dark secret is uncovered as one of the daughters is targeted for special attention ...Fairly interesting story that's well performed but poorly paced, and the end lacks a real punch. We're introduced to the family and the life of the town with good dialogue and performances, and the innocence of the setting is well delivered through bright cinematography. But the lack of pace becomes boring - mostly through the editing rather than poor story - and the absence of shadowy atmosphere is a mistake. The frights are delivered by ho-hum CGI common to Asian horror over the past two decades. The climax is OK, but the story fails to establish a coherent myth.The lead actress is a honey, with pretty face and a generous rack, but the director doesn't let her off the leash. A few scenes are unnecessary or overfilled with dialogue, particularly when the elder pastor delivers his speeches.The lighting is mostly bright, and with the sluggish editing, the story doesn't develop much of a sense of dread. Outstanding is the sound, with subtle music and some well judged scenes where the volume is dialled down to create a sense of alienation.Overall: frustrating mix of good and bad, with a fatal flaw in the failure to explore the origin of the horror.

michellegodfrey Classic example of a film that had potential but which also had a producer who failed to see the importance of an actual story-line. (Which made any sense)The story follows a family being lured to a village on the pretense of the father (a pastor) taking a job at the village church. The villagers have an ulterior motive. One of the family members is selected to be possessed by the devil, in a pagan type "wickerman" village ritual. The devil (occupying the body of possessed family member) is then left about its business to kill all but one of the family members. The remaining one is used in a further ritual to banish the devil back to wherever it came from.The next family is lured to the village to continue the cycle.All this is fine and dandy. But there is no explanation of crucial background details / any details to make sense of the plot?Why the devil is given a sacrifice from a family to possess for just long enough to kill part of that family, before being unhappily banished again?What happens if the cycle doesn't take place?What is the criteria of the ritual which needs to be fulfilled? One dead, two dead? Once a year? Maybe Just don't bother and see what happens??Also things happen throughout the film which seem irrelevant or unexplained;At one point the father within the doomed family is rendered unconscious with chloroform over his face and locked in a church. Why did that happen? Did they intend to save him from the devil?At one point the other pastor of the village coughs up black blood when the possessed member (devil) is injured - I hoped this would lead to a twist in the plot which explained that he was manufacturing the whole need for this ritual due to an evil pseudo identity- but nothing more came of it.At one point there is red crosses painted on the doors and at others scenes of sheep having their blood drained into buckets- can we assume one is connected to ther other. Can we assume the red Sheep blood crosses keeps the devil out? (Why?) Assuming things is the theme of this movie.all in all it's always enjoyable watching scenes of possessed people killing their family members. Even if completely random with no explanation for why it is necessary is ever given.On a side note Can't help but notice striking resemblance between "the devil" and the grumpy girl from the well in "the ring":)

krycek19 Apart from the slow pace and the predictability, every character in the movie acted abnormal. Even the Family that moved to Stull.Having seen this so called horror movie, I'm left with a big why and one how? How does Pastor Kingsman get in touch with the dad in the family in the first place, when they lived in a big city six states away? Why would they move to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere when they were happy in the city?Why does Pastor Kingsman open the gate to hell and let the devil out, just so he can close it again? Why let the devil out in the first place? Why does the oldest sister trust the creepy Noah? Why are the sisters not telling their parents about the tooth found in the cake? Why does the dad go to the church, when his youngest daughter is clearly sick/possessed? Why is the family not taking her to the hospital? Why will the other family in the house where the brother tries to hide not help him? Why is Noah not warning the family and tell them to get out before it's too late? Why hasn't Noah exposed Kingsman or killed him? Why does the elder sister, who survives don't flee the town or take vengeance on Kingsman?Why do the townspeople of Stull accept that Kingsman worship the devil? Why is this movie so stupid? Don't bother watching this. It's not worth it.