By Stephen Pytak 

     Whenever I tell people about this film,
I always start talking about the scene with 
the camera flashes.
     One of the main characters, a sleazy
photographer, "Adam (Leigh Whannell),"
is in his dark room when the lights go out.
     He hears someone in his apartment. 
With no flashlight at hand, he takes his
camera and begins snapping away to 
illuminate his path.
     There's a noise. Someone else is there.
     He snaps again.
     The flash reveals the strangest sight,
a puppet sitting on a chair.
     There's another noise. There's someone
in the room.
     He tries the closet.
     Snap...
     It was creative scenes like this which
kept me glued to this thrill show.
     The concept is something new. It's
the story of a psycho who snares people,
imprisons them in soundproof chambers,
then challenges them to games of death.
     Hurdles could include bear traps, 
barbed wire, shackles, poison and the 
sands of time.
     What's also kind of neat here is the
killer isn't a "Jason," "Freddy" or 
"Michael." 
     He's a trickster who remains hidden
while his schemes unfold.
     The film does borrow a few things
from other classic movies.
     The eye peeking out of the little girl's
closet reminded me of a scene in "Black
Christmas (1974.)
     The pig's head the killer wears is 
something out of the "Motel Hell (1980)"
universe.
     The puppet is kind of like the one in
Dario Argento's "Deep Red (1975)."
     These similarities aren't distracting.
Maybe that's because they're not used the
same way as they were in those above-
mentioned films.
     By the way, I wonder if the scene with
the camera flashes was a homage of 
sorts to "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
(1974)."
     Hmmmmmmmm.
     This is a candidate for best horror film
of the year. So far it's my pick. 
     I was a bit put off from seeing at first
because so many people were saying it
was great. I hate hype.
     Don't let that deter you from seeing
this film ASAP. 
     I think the film will probably come
out in an uncut version on DVD. According
to IMDB, an uncut version showing in
Singapore runs 102 minutes. The US
cut runs 100.