Horror films dealing with "compulsory suicide" as a theme are automatically unsettling and scary. They're also quite rare, since they must deal with the issue of how to give a proper and reasonably plausible explanation to the strange phenomenon of the compulsory suicides. Larry Cohen's "God Told Me To" is a fine example, and to a lesser extent also the more recent "Truth or Dare", but the modest sleeper-hit "From Within" might be the best one yet. Here the suicides are linked to extremely religious fanaticism and a curse evoked by a family of heathens.

Bible freaks are frightening as well, especially when they are young folks like the characters played here by Kelly Blatz and Adam Goldberg. "From Within" is probably the only film ever in which the fancy religious nerd beats up the handsome rebel kid in the schoolyard! The suicide sequences are disturbing because the victims are (mostly) innocent and often still very young, and personally I always get the creeps from self-declared prophets spreading the - supposed - Word of God. The film, set in a secluded little town, also looks stunningly beautiful and stylish, which is no doubt due to the director - Phedon Papamichael - being an Oscar-winning cinematographer. The performances are good, the soundtrack is suiting, and the climax is - hands down - one of the best and most shocking climaxes of all horror movies made after the year 2000.

Although this type of film has been done many times before there is always room for good writing, acting, camera work and directing. Hey, if one is going to enjoy a modest budget horror flick one must get past the fact the takes-place-in-a-town-with-weird-residents plus the supernatural-aspects-to-be-taken-for-granted are simply ingrained in the process. This setting and genre must either be accepted and enjoyed or ignored altogether.

That said, the acting is FROM WITHIN is exceptional. The teens (and they actually look like teenagers instead of dressed up 30-year-olds) are neither sullen nor over the top but anxious, indecisive, vulnerable; i.e., like real teenagers. Miss Rice in particular delivers her lines in convincing fashion. The two young male leads could easily slide into stereotypes but...well...don't. The adults, e.g., the sheriff and the preacher, aren't overbearing elders. All the adults, in fact, actually interact with the teens, whereas in many movies like this one there is the teen world (Read: real and emotional) and the adult world (Read: static and authoritative).

The supernatural aspect, while never believable, is thankfully modest in inception and use. If the final scenes are not edge-of-your-seat they hold your interest as to what's going to happen. Cool "twist" at the very end too. What's a 56-year-old movie snob watching something like this for? Hey, I'm entitled to some fun too. Most things like this are lucky to last 20 minutes on my screen. FROM WITHIN went the full micro-wave popcorn ninety minutes.

Suicide stalks the population of a religious town, one by one, until the heroine must save herself by dispelling the curse.

This moves along at a fair clip, in Final Destination style, and the direction is good. The pursuit by dopplegangers is spooky, with a couple of mild jump scares, although the deaths are tame.

Not so sure about the writing, as there are some clunky scenes, stereotypical characters (plus the cousin was there just for plot purposes), and it all wraps up with a ... chase through the woods. There are not just one, but two unconvincing crowd scenes where extras gather around in circles. However, there is a neat twist at the very end.

The acting is OK, although the preacher's son seemed to have a giant zit under his makeup. Music lacked passion, but the piano nocturnes were good.

Overall it felt overstuffed with elements that the writer struggled to wrap together, and the logic of the story meant the baddies were right all along.

The long, scathing review just below is not unfair, but I found this passable entertainment.