The problems with this movie are obvious and not worth discussing at length (the dialog is unnatural and badly written, the "actual events" are completely fictional, etc). The initial school, party, family, and news scenes are handled smoothly, but aren't particularly engaging. There's enough story and character development to keep the viewer interested until the incredible last third of the film.

However, this movie accomplishes many things that very few movies in this vein could ever hope to accomplish. It's actually chilling and disturbing. The first shot of the blue barrel in the final 22 minutes is disturbing because you KNOW (or have a pretty good idea of) what it contains before it is even opened. The thirteen minutes that follow the opening of the barrel are just as disturbing as the girl pleads to an unresponsive gravedigger.

Although the film might initially appear similar to films such as David Schwimmer's Trust (2010), it eventually winds up being much closer to darker works such as Gregory William's 2007 film adaptation of the Jack Ketchum book The Girl Next Door. This film understands what scores of trashy fake snuff films such as August Underground fail to grasp - it's not the gore or brutal nature of what happens that is truly disturbing, but the coldness and finality of the criminal actions.

I watched this movie tonight and it was a gut punch like I've never had in 42 years of life. Even if it has its limits, overall I think it's expertly crafted: [spoiler]the first part is a bit like Thirteen (2003) and serves the purpose of introducing the characters, and especially Amy as an innocent 13 years old who has always lived a sheltered life and still has teddy bears all around her room. The second part (after Megan's kidnapping) eases the tension somehow, letting the viewer's guard down with all the ridiculous TV news coverage, so that when we reach the final part, we're absolutely not expecting what we're about to watch. So the director expertly manipulated the viewer's emotions, to make sure the ending would hit with full impact.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]The ending, what to say about it? It's relentless and hard to watch, even if there's no actual gore, again the director knows his craft and doesn't let the eye of the viewer wander around, no cuts, we get to see the painful moments Amy is put through in their full, unedited cruelty, with her ever present teddy bear reminding us of her broken innocence. I think the teddy bear is what really makes the difference here.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Even if I knew it wasn't going to happen, I kept hoping that in the end she would free herself somehow. The fact that in the burying scene she pleads for her life until the end, with her captor not answering or flinching even one time, is really chilling to the bone.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]One thing that put me off a bit is that she never, ever tries to put a fight with her captor: she doesn't try to bite him, or hit him... I think that in such a situation, one would at least try, especially if not too phisically restrained, but who knows. Anyway that obviously was not the point of the movie, and maybe if she tried to react and was subsequently beaten into submission, it would've been even more unbearable to watch.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]It really is the first time a movie has left me so shaken, it also made me reconsider all the news about kidnappings and murders that sadly pop up from time to time... One thing is to distractly hearing such things from the news, or watching ridiculous, over-the-top "reenactments", another thing is to think about the cold, the loneliness, the dread that the ending of this movie depicts.[/spoiler]

It also is the first time where I seriously feel difficult to recommend watching a movie, as this movie truly is a traumatizing experience, for me it was at least. The fact that it received so many 1 out of 10 reviews here and around is proof that is something that packs an emotional punch, and elicits extreme reactions. Mine was a 10 out of 10 but I understand everyone rationalizes such things their own way.

Some trivia:

The movie got released in 2011, but it was shot in 2006, according to its Wikipedia page. So, while the protagonists may appear 20 something, they actually were 14 (Megan, played by Rachel Quinn) and 17 (Amy, played by Amber Perkins) at the time of the shooting. Still according to Wikipedia, the director wanted the parents of all the young actors on set during the filming, to ensure they were fully aware of the involvement of their children in the project.

The story depicted in the movie is fake, but it's actually based on true events, in particular the murder of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis. Mark Klaas, the father of Polly Klaas, a 12 years old that was kidnapped and murdered in 1993, and founder of the KlaasKids Foundation, endorsed the movie, and his statement about it can be read on the movie's official website.

The movie was shot in 8 days.