starring HEATH LEDGER, MARK ADDY.
Almost all talk and no action, this low-key horror release is a rarity both with its originally approached story and quietly disturbing subtlety.
Heath Ledger plays a priest who flits from New York to Rome (where the film was tellingly shot) when a fellow priest dies in mysterious circumstances. Ledger made his name in actioner 'A Knight's Tale' and is to be seen also in 'Ned Kelly.' Here he flexes his versatility in a role that demands he be emotional, especially when his beloved girlfriend snuffs it.
Despite being as slow-moving as the slight horror of 'Solaris,' the tension is built well and in this way reminds of 'The Others.' There is little gore, and instead the eerie atmospherics that are created ensure you'll stay intrigued.
The horror aspect from the story is borne out of the priests' dabblings with - and troubling experiments into - 'evil' itself,' and 'the sin eater' in question is an immortal man who drains people's sins on their metaphorical death-bed prior to their after-life shenanigans�
Pity then that the OTT climax when Ledger's priest takes over as 'the Sin Eater' is so ridiculous once paltry monsters rear their heads from his predecessor's big mouth.
For the best part though, this is an interesting modern-day chiller that's thankfully more concerned with some at least half-decent acting, in-plot integrity and a cool wad of genuinely suspense-preceded shocks. 3/5 (STEVE RUDD)
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