Review – They

Somewhere around midway between Darkness Falls and previous Wes Craven effort A Nightmare on Elm Street lies this mediocre production. In keeping with 2003’s official theme – movies that have great premises that never quite seem to pay off – the wind-up is much better than the pitch. The thesis is that night terrors aren’t just bad dreams; rather, they’re a window into a dark dimension full of evil demon things. But when the demon things turn out to be something between big bats and pinky mice with old men’s heads, they start to seem a great deal less menacing. They manage to get a couple of decent booga-booga shots out of the monsters, but not much else. The production is further defeated by the lead actor, who does a passable – if somewhat over-wrought – job as a woman descending into madness. Trouble is, we seem to be intended to believe that she isn’t really crazy and that her “delusions” are actually things from beyond out to cart her off to their evil realm. So when she acts like she’s completely nuts, it sort of defeats the purpose. Unless, that is, you go with the alternate “Wizard of Oz” ending available on the DVD. Mildly amusing