The director, James Mangold, and the writer, Michael Cooney, play fair, sort of, and once you understand their thinking you can trace back through the movie and see that they never cheated, exactly. full review

A lame-brained nut job in search of an identity of its own. full review

A nihilist project in Usual Suspects mode: Nothing is as it seems, because nothing matters in the least. full review

[A] very well made horror thriller. full review

Assorted examples of artificially flavoured humanity ... proceed to panic, bicker and run with the customary perversity that characters in situations like this do toward their gory destinies. full review

More than an entertaining thriller. It's a highly original one. full review

What's terrific about Mangold is that he doesn't slavishly clone other, earlier films but actually tries to bring something fresh to the familiar. full review

It can make for an exasperating ride, since the filmmakers fudge the line between earnest manipulation and flip self-mockery. full review

An over-directed slasher picture full of arty tricks and slumming stars. full review

I think it's a fascinating movie that, if you are able to make the leap it asks of you at about the three-quarter mark, will give you something to think and talk about for days. full review

A wicked scorpion with a double sting in its tail. full review

Opens with its mind nicely intact, suffers a major crisis about 30 minutes in, then bad turns to worse. full review

It isn't a standard slasher flick, but it impersonates one for so long you want to slap it around.

A film that is thiiiis close to nailing the whole suspense/thriller/ serial-killer genre. full review

It's an exasperating exercise in B-movie hokum and screenwriter's gimmickry. full review

Manufactured shock replaces gnawing fear and only meager attempts are made to liberate us from high-concept hell.

A genuinely cunning psychological thriller.

The apparent premise, creaky though it may be, holds ample opportunity for suspense and second-guessing, and Mr. Mangold handles the revelations and reversals of Michael Cooney's script with nerve-racking aplomb. full review

This isn't a story: It's a catalog of gruesome murders. full review