The great thing about this remake of the 1979 cult film of the same name is though the original later found an enthusiastic audience, it wasn't that good. Thus this hasn't so much to live up to, as say the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) had versus the chilling original (1974).

Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) has been grounded and so can't go to the annual high school bonfire party. Her crime is running up a big mobile phone bill, and her punishment is babysitting Doctor (Derek de Lint) and Mrs Mandrakis's (Kate Jennings Grant) children. Initially when her father (Clark Gregg) drops her off, she is most impressed with the beautiful lakeside surroundings of the doctor's house. It chirps her up a little as apart from being in her father's bad books, she caught her boyfriend Bobby (Brian Geraghty) kissing her best friend Tiffany (Kate Cassidy). Mrs Mandrakis tells her not to worry about any movement she may hear from the third floor, as the housekeeper Rosa's (Rosine Ace' Hatem) room is there. She also learns from Mrs Mandrakis that her stepson lives in their guesthouse. After Jill has had a good snoop around and checked the children are asleep, she settles down to a quiet evening with her homework. However, things take a turn for the worse when the telephone rings. To start with she is just vexed. But when the calls come fast and furious terror seeps in, as she begins to think there is someone else is the house apart from her and the children.

Unlike the original where the suspense peters out too soon, first time screenwriter Jake Wade Wall has managed to keep the momentum going throughout. Director Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2001) has sensibly kept the running time to 83 minutes and given us a brilliant opening scene that sets the film's pace. When a story is about claustrophobic fear it pays not to prolong it or it can wear thin far too early. This also has the advantage of being very beautiful and eerily atmospheric to look at.

The lakeside house has an ultra state of the art design, but I wouldn't want to sleep there alone, that's for sure. Needless to say it covers every clich we have ever seen in a horror film, but that doesn't matter a jot. However avoid the trailer if you can as it gives far too much away. Honestly, it beggars belief that the powers that be' don't know what not to put in a trailer. Young Camilla Belle does her best, but would do well to watch Jodie Foster's great performance in Panic Room (2002). Foster never overplays her fear, whereas Belle does and it merely looks like she is acting frightened. In fact none of the performances are up to much. Indeed David Cassidy's daughter Kate, as Tiffany, shows she could do with a couple more years at drama school under her belt. That said, in spite of the expected ending, this is a surprisingly well-made and engaging film. 6/10