When Mina (Dakota Fanning) gets stranded in an Irish forest, she becomes trapped with three strangers who tell her she just needs to be watched to be safe. But, Mina only wants to escape. When the four people discover their hideaway also has a secret bunker, they are brought into an educators obsessive world of Irish folklore. And it gives them what they need to leave.
Ishana Shyamalan’s directorial debut is good, but not great. The setting is fabulous, a foggy, forbidding forest. The creature design is good too, in the few scenes you get to actually see the monsters. Aside from Mina, the other three characters are standard and a bit flat.
The film’s real strength lies in the folklore, but it doesn’t use it quite enough. I wanted more of it. For the creatures to have been more than just creatures wanting to watch. For them to really be the fairies of old. That said, I still enjoyed what the film gives us.
I’m interested to see what the young Shyamalan will give us in the future, for you can see the upbringing she has with her horror master father all over this film. There’s even a twist, one you can see coming if you paid attention to the details.
Three and an half stars out of five.
Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
When Mina (Dakota Fanning) gets stranded in an Irish forest, she becomes trapped with three strangers who tell her she just needs to be watched to be safe. But, Mina only wants to escape. When the four people discover their hideaway also has a secret bunker, they are brought into an educators obsessive world of Irish folklore. And it gives them what they need to leave.
Ishana Shyamalan’s directorial debut is good, but not great. The setting is fabulous, a foggy, forbidding forest. The creature design is good too, in the few scenes you get to actually see the monsters. Aside from Mina, the other three characters are standard and a bit flat.
The film’s real strength lies in the folklore, but it doesn’t use it quite enough. I wanted more of it. For the creatures to have been more than just creatures wanting to watch. For them to really be the fairies of old. That said, I still enjoyed what the film gives us.
I’m interested to see what the young Shyamalan will give us in the future, for you can see the upbringing she has with her horror master father all over this film. There’s even a twist, one you can see coming if you paid attention to the details.
Three and an half stars out of five.
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