My how Sam Raimi has grown up. The guy who brought us the completely over-the-top Evil Dead horror series has gone out and made some serious dramas like A Simple Plan and For Love of the Game and now returns to his roots with this supernatural thriller. Gone is the hyperkinetic camera work that once terrorized Bruce Campbell. In its place is a thoughtfully placed camera that somehow manages to make just about everything look creepy.
 Of course when you're filming the Georgia swamps it's hard not to have things look creepy. Raimi makes full use of his locations to maximize a slightly eerie feeling that filters into almost every corner of this movie. Coupled with a tendency to give the audience a good jolt from time to time, the movie does an excellent job of keeping the audience uncomfortable and on edge most of the time.
But what really makes this movie work are the characters. On the surface it looks like a collection of small town southern stereotypes. You've got the single mother, the town crazy, the white trash wife beater, the abused wife, the clean cut principal, the flirty socialite, the skeptical sheriff and so on. Looking a bit deeper though reveals characters with a bit more depth than you might expect. Give a lot of credit to a talented cast for developing them into real people instead of cartoon characters.
Cate Blanchett shines the brightest as Annie, a widowed mother of three. She supports herself by setting up shop as a psychic, reading her clients futures through cards. Annie really does have a psychic gift but she uses it to act as a therapist for many in her town. Her ability gives her just enough insight to help people through their problems. Blanchett gives Annie a very caring nature and down to earth quality that makes her very sympathetic. It's a subtle performance that speaks greatly of her range. She has a way of making it clear that the death of her husband is a source of constant pain without every saying a word about it.
Chiefly aided by Annie is Buddy (Giovanni Ribisi), the highly disturbed owner of a local garage. He is fiercely loyal to her for helping him deal with his inner demons. Another of her clients is Valerie (Hilary Swank), who suffers regular abuse at the hands of her husband Donnie (Keanu Reeves). Annie repeatedly counsels her to leave Donnie but she won't, too scared to be on her own. When Donnie finds out he begins to threaten Annie and her children.
Reeves at first seems like an odd choice for the role thanks to a clean cut image but he proves more than up to the task. Donnie is frequently as or more frightening than Annie's visions. He effectively played a serial killer recently in The Watcher but refines his nasty side more here. This is a much better drawn character which makes him much more fascinating. This is coldly uncaring individual who uses his religious beliefs as a foundation for threatening Annie. There is something alarming at someone so evil he can twist the noblest of ideals to his own twisted desires.
Much of the story revolves around the sudden disappearance of flighty young socialite Jessica King (Katie Holmes). She is engaged to plain vanilla school principal Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear) but still sleeps around extensively. When the search for her proves fruitless, her father convinces the sheriff to approach Annie for help. This leads to some creepy visions, pond dredging, a courtroom drama, some Lumberg action and a few twists along the way. It leads up to an ending presented as a twist but in reality so cliched that the blind can see it coming for miles.
What it comes down to is a fairly generic spooky story with stereotypical characters that is elevated greatly by stellar performances. It's worth seeing at the very least for Blanchett and surprisingly, Reeves. Katie Holmes fans should definitely catch it as she exposes some of her more... tangible assets. Raimi continues to prove himself a gifted director by elevating otherwise generic material to a higher level.
- John Shea
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