Really, it could have.

My personal opinion of Lohan aside, this movie - like others (Dead Silence for one) relied heavily on effects that at times, become quite distracting. Some of the shots in the film are beautiful, but the use of blue is really overdone, some of the special effects are lacking, and some of the weapons are just ridiculous (The big blue glass knife? Are you kidding me?). Whether you see symbolism in the use of colour depends on the viewers mindset - But even so, the use of blue is just overwhelming at times. This is probably the point - but it starts to distract from the plot.

The acting is alright. For the most part, Lohan does a good job. The parents aren't very convincing, and at times the dialog becomes stale, and somewhat corny.

However, the movie is easy enough to follow that people who don't like complex horror films can sit back, and enjoy the ride. If you do prefer a bit more mystery, you'll have this figured out about halfway through, and the end will seem to drag. The big plot twist at the end was original enough, however for me it seemed like a cop out. It works fine, it's just not quite as exciting as it could have been. Kind of left me thinking "Oh... that's all?"

There's a small bit of nudity, a sex scene, and lots of dirty dancing. So if your decision rests on one of those things, now you know.

Surprisingly, there are several gory scenes as well. I wouldn't recommend bringing small children to see this, though I doubt that will stop some people from bringing their kids along. It isn't scary, but the gore in some parts might be a bit much for younger audiences, or people who really can't deal with it. It's nothing like SAW or Hostel in the area of gore, but there were a couple scenes that made me flinch.

In the end, the film really didn't bring anything new to the table. The storyline is simple, and easy to follow, some of the shots are nice, and the acting on a whole is mediocre at worst. So if you have nothing better to do, it's an alright film to waste an hour or so with. But don't go expecting an award winner - you'll be left disappointed.

So I just went to go see an advance screening of this movie and I don't know why the studio would do such a thing-- the audience was constantly laughing and this is no comedy. Usually screenings I've seen have been of fantastic movies (Wedding Crashers, Hairspray) and I'm telling everyone I know to go see it. Also, I've never seen such a general consensus of "WOW, what were they thinking?" at the end of a movie. I cannot WAIT to read the reviews on this! It's going to be slaughtered by the press.

Despite Ms. Lohan's troubles, I do think she is talented and, if only for her sake, I was hoping this would be a good film. I like her, and I love movies and tend to see the good in them, but this does not do enough redeeming. It does have a promising premise, but it is done all wrong. The parts that need build-up have none and time is wasted on other pointless scenes. Very graphic film as well-- definitely not an R that any child should be seeing.

Seriously, this isn't even a case of "so bad it's good". It's just bad.

Save yourself the $10 movie fare on this one-- and go see "1408" for a real psychological thriller. This'll be on DVD before you know it anyway.