13岁的美丽小女孩米雅（艾拉·彭内尔 Ella Purnell 饰）偶然在自家院子的树洞里发现一只小盒子，齐木里面装着一则奇怪恐怖的故事。故事讲述了无脸恶魔希望得到他人的认可，齐木于是四处寻找站在窗口的小孩子，将孩子带走并撕掉他们的脸，贴在自己的脸上。米雅为这个未完成的故事着迷，她尝试续写下去。米雅不知道，这是身为建筑工人的父亲约翰·费罗（克里夫·欧文 Clive Owen 饰）童年时代根据自己的真实体验所写的故事。在这一过程中，诡异的梦境不断困扰米雅。与此同时，一起意外事故让约翰深埋心底的恐惧再次复苏，他重新想起童年时的无脸恶魔，父女俩同时遭到恶魔的侵扰……
回复 :对于奥布莉（爱波·塔布琳 Amber Tamblyn 饰）来说，姐姐凯伦（莎拉·米歇尔·盖拉 Sarah Michelle Gellar 饰）的死充满了疑点。两年前，凯伦远赴日本求学，不久之后奥布莉一家就收到了凯伦被关入精神病院的噩耗，而现在，曾经善良美丽的姐姐已经变成了一具冰冷的尸体。奥布莉坚信其中必有古怪，因此，她和专门报道灵异事件的记者伊森（陈冠希 饰）联手，对老房子中的咒怨展开了调查。同一时间，在世界各地，发生了数件离奇死亡事件，而死者与咒怨均有着千丝万缕的关联。咒怨果真这样无孔不入吗？究竟又是谁在背后操纵着这股强大的力量呢？
回复 :一名年轻的单亲妈妈兼警探莫顿发现郊区的一间房子遭到一个复仇怨灵所诅咒，这使进入房子内的人都会惨死。进入被诅咒的屋子中的她们必须设法从中救出自己和她的儿子，以免受怨灵的袭击。
回复 :The story appears simple on the surface, but is revealed, especially after multiple viewings, as more multi-layered and textured than Cassavetes at his best. Ostensibly it concerns a 14-year old Catholic girl, Wynne (Agutter) growing up in this post-modern wasteland, who develops a crush on her much older adoptive brother (Marshall)- a crush which perversely deepens and grows into infatuation once she starts to believe he is the local sex killer. This is in itself an idea that makes you sit up and jolt, but as the narrative develops, it continues not necessarily along a linear path but in several confusing and fascinating directions: the family's history, (detailed effectively in chilling flashback during an improvised seance) is a chequered one, and has suffered at least one major relocation and upheaval in the last ten years.At the crux, however, it's the depiction of socialal changes that make I Start Counting so fascinating and elevate its language far beyond the confines of the standard horror film. The major subtext- that teenage girls were maturing more quickly than before, and developing full sexual and romantic appetites (even if in thought rather than deed) but were not possessed of enough discretion to make the right choices- was a step forward for a genre in which its young females had previously been portrayed as bimbo victims (Cover Girl Killer and The Night Caller spring to mind), but not one that all viewers would necessarily agree with.But most striking of all, and possibly the most enduring image which the viewer will take away with them, is of the masterful symbolism with which director Greene invests every shot. Every inch of the Kinch family's world- their house, their walls, their TV, Agutters underwear, bedroom furniture and toys, Sutcliffe's clothes, Marshalls van, the local Catholic church, their town centre, their record shop) - is painted a bright, scintillating white- a white which, by inference, is slowly becoming smudged and corrupted with the dirt of the outside world. White also symbolises, of course, purity and innocence (two qualities Catholic schoolgirls are supposed to hold dear), and it is into this world of innocence that the ever-present red bus (a symbol of violation and penetration), conducted by the lecherous yet similarly juvenile Simon Ward, makes regular journeys. The allegory is further expanded in one scene where Agutter believes she sees the Christ figure in church weeping blood: by the time we acknowledge it, its gone, but the seed has already been planted. Rarely in a genre production has the use of colour and background been so important or effective in creating a uniformity of mood.I Start Counting is as near-perfect an end to a decade as one could hope for, and exactly the kind of film people should be making now- which is, of course, exactly why they never will. A genre essential.by D.R. SHIMON@lounge.moviecodec.com
