Starring: Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank, Giovanni Ribisi, Katie Holmes
Directed by: Sam Raimi

In the mood for some good scares? Excellent. The Gift provides it all. Directed by (quasi-)legendary horror-cheese meister Sam Raimi, and packed with a stellar cast, how could this movie be bad? It?s actually pretty damned good.

Cate Blanchett is Annie Wilson, a mother of three in the south, whose husband dies and now has to make a living doing fortune reading for the townsfolk. Some people are skeptical about her practices, but she continues, anyway. Along comes a day when the daughter of one of the town?s most powerful men has gone missing. After exhausting all their avenues, the police has no other option but to consult Annie?s powers. What she sees is not good?and often scary.

Sure, The Gift has some ?boo?-like scares, when it suddenly goes ?tah-dum?, and something pops out of some corner. Whatever works, right? Some scenes have yell-out-loud scares, even right in the opening seconds (again, one of the boo-scares). But the entire movie isn?t just about the frights. The story has you watching intently and caring about the outcome. This is mainly due to the great performances by everyone involved. All the actors (including Keanu, in a break with tradition) are great, which makes the movie all the more enjoyable. And with Raimi behind the camera, it all comes together to make an entertaining 2 hours at the movies.

DroopyMcC
Jack

Second Opinions

ASY		Good scares, and better than I thought it would be.
Jack

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