That ending

First of all, I really liked this movie. The low rating does it a disservice but I can understand it, being a movie that is relatively subtle and builds gradually without relying on old school jumps, cranky action sequences or gore at all. It gave me the creeps, and I'm not one to scare easily. I am a big horror fan and have been watching horror since I was far too young to be doing so but generally find the current state of horror to be fairly insipid and uninspiring, unimaginative and not scary, particularly the multiplex horror of recent times. I actually went into this one with fairly high expectations on the back of a reccomendation by celebrated UK film critic Mark Kermode who, despite what else you might think of him, really does know his horror, inside out, and also generally seems to share the opinion that a lot of newer horror cinema is lacking in quality and scares, so when he does reccomend a new horror movie I tend to take note. I'm glad I did.

I'm not sure exactly why I found it as effective as I did but I'm sure the fantastic rumbling, building, sinister but cleverly sparse soundtrack had something to do with it. The acting was good and the confusion and panic which slowly creeps in was well played out, the script was great, giving equal space for humour as well as terror which never felt forced but on the contary balances the tone of the film out nicely. Probably most importantly the characters are brilliantly written which is becoming something of a rarity in modern horror cinema it seems. The relationship between the two main characters was a joy to watch develop and was most definately a major contributing factor in how effecting I found the ending when it finally rears its ugly head. You care about these two. You've warmed to them, you like them, and to see them in such a desperate state of peril gets you right in the gut. It's been a long time since I felt such a sense of dread and discomfort throughout the last act of a film and a long time since the last few moments of a film have stuck in my mind in such a way and left me reeling like it did once the credits hit (with the exception of Kill List, another fantastic recent British horror film that is compareable to this in many ways, sharing the building sense of dread that creeps over you throughout).

It was to my suprise then, that the three other people I watched this movie with almost immediately scoffed at the ending of the film and voiced displeasure with it. Had I seen the same thing? I was outnumbered well and truly and was left wondering if I'd gone soft. It was comforting then, reading the comments here, that so many other people found the ending as effective as I did, but I'm wondering if anybody had a similar experience when watching it with other people? I'm trying to understand the strong dismissive reaction but it really beats me. I was sad I didn't have anybody to share my appreciation of it with once the credits had finished rolling.