A dark and effective horror film that shouldn't be missed by those who love the genre. I had a problem with some of the obvious forehadowing moments but flaws aside this is a gruesome gem. A family of five drive out to the English countryside to visit their mother's sister's family for Christmas. Their son vomits when they arrive and they assume he was car sick. But next the littlest cousin becomes sick too and the horror begins to build with excellent tension and satisfying evil. The main character is the teenage girl, who is the first to realize something is going on with the children. Who will believe her though? The writer and director, Tom Shankland delivers the goods here and I'm curious to see what else he might have in development. Grade: B+.
Spoiler: As stated above there are some flaws that nagged me enough to keep it from an A rating. First is the use of the "disappearing pet" cliche. Really? The second you see the cat you know it's going to be tortured. Secondly I always hate it when the main character can't just tell everyone what is going on. She knows the children have become evil but doesn't say anthing, supposedly because she's in panic mode. I guess that would explain how stupid she becomes at the end of the film, choosing to pound on a solid wood door instead of breaking the window, climbing outside and rushing to help her mother. Still there's some wonderful implied violence and build up. At the end you're led to believe the teenage girl is next which begs the question: is it because, no matter how grown up she thinks she is, she's just as much a kid as her siblings; or does this evil zombie like disease up from the youngest to the oldest, eventually turning adults as well. I like endings like this that let you're imagination continue the story.
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