Lady In the Water

Oh no! Or as some of my friends might say.. it's about time! I've finally fallen out of movie-love with M. Night. My expectations of this film set me up for a fall, it's true. But his lack of storytelling sealed the deal. I had tons of fun trying to figure out what the possible Twlight Zone twist would be...it's Little Red Riding Hood updated, it's a mass of traditional fairy tales descending on an apartment complex to be played out, the Lady is really evil and she tricks the tenants into helping her spread evil. Oh the possibilities! I saw the film opening night because I didn't want the ending to be spoiled for me but truth is seeing the film spoiled it for me. I was bored and then annoyed at some of the nonsense in this film, and at other points embarassed that I was watching great actors do stupid things. The film is exactly what it appears to be in the trailer, about a lady in the water who is stalked by a wolf like creature and is saved by a maintenance man. Except that what you don't see in the trailer are all the lame plot points he makes up to explain the story. M. Night uses repeated, and really not worth repeating, images from "Signs" (laying on of hands, cradling a dying loved one, a family man who has lost members of his family brutally) and "The Village" (creatures made of straw like material). See Brotherhood of the Wolf for the obvious inspitation for this. BTW "Brotherhood" is a much more scary and entertaining film about a community under siege by the unknown. And what's up with people in LITW spending an awful lot of screen time sitting on the floor without the director making the perspective intriguing... it was just annoying!
Favorite moment: Bob Balaban's face as he stares at a newly introduced female tenant. Is it horror or lust? Only he knows!
Least favorite moment: It's a tie between the only child in the film seriously interpreting the mystical messages on cereal boxes or the three giant straw monkey beasts beating up the wolf straw beast. Even my love of B movies could not justify this!
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