I get it - except for one early scene *spoilers*

Overall, I liked the film, though I think even lower-budget films (see Salvage) have more successfully and more succinctly pulled off the "killer in hell living through victim's eyes" concept. But on that note, while it's an interesting take on hell, honestly, if there is a hell and there is a devil - how much time and creativity do we expect him to waste on each one of us? I would think he'd eventually be like, "Oh, hell, just throw 'em in the chamber of fire."

Premise aside, I wasn't sure how to toss in the early church murder scene in the final mix. At first I thought this was just another victim of his, but I'm unsure of its ultimate importance to the film. Was the killer reliving this too - meaning was he this (non-Birch) blonde as well? The scene did seem a bit hellish - there were two killers pursuing her, not just one (one reached through the door while the other came up behind her -- ...or did he just sprint around the church?)

On top of that, I couldn't understand why 1) 2 hours before a big wedding, only two people were around; 2) why you'd light four thousand candles hours before the big event; 3) why the chick would smoke in a church right before her friend's wedding (I mean, fine, but really?); 4) how she could fall asleep in the church - wake up - and STILL no one is around; and 5) how a body could have been placed on the altar next to her (and perhaps disemboweled there) without her hearing - and, apparently, without the killer noticing she was there.

Help me out here, am I totally off-base on that scene?

The art of losing isn't hard to master.