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Edited down to a PG-13 Stateside, Ole Bornedal’s slick religious horror bears all the hallmarks of Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures (the Grudge remake, Drag Me To Hell ) – except the gore.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan excels as a harassed single dad whose youngest daughter (the brilliant Natasha Calis) becomes attached to a strange, whispering box covered in Hebrew writings.
Although proceedings skew towards predictable when she finally opens it, the film benefits from strong dialogue, pacing and performances, so you’re always painfully aware of how scared the characters are, even if you don’t quite feel the same.
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Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.