Credo [DVD]

A low-budget Brit horror that is very much played by numbers. The first half of the film is mind numbingly boring. And as with a lot of other low-budget horrors, loud music is used to try and scare. I almost switched it off. But I'm very much glad I stuck with it. Because it came as a nice surprise to me when I was caught out by the twist ending. The acting was pretty decent; MyAnna Buring stands out the most and I look forward to seeing a lot more of her in the future.

Those of you who love gore and heart-stopping frights won't be that impressed with this film, nor will anyone who chose it purely because of Stephen Gately.
However, if you are looking for a milder scare and a great twist, search no further. Credo is an enjoyable film that lets your imagination do most of the scaring. Those nervous individuals, who don't like to be spooked, will find this a compromise, halfway between "The Exorcist" and "Bob the Builder", which will allow them to say they've seen a horror movie, without spending the next six weeks in rehab.
The acting was surprisingly good, with likeable, hateable and fanciable characters if you are of that age. Myanna Buring was good as the lead actress, with one confusing "wooden" bit of acting that becomes clear later. Nathalie Pownall was extremely good, although why her character had to be a lesbian never became clear and the toilet scene left me non-plussed; however, Nathalie was in no way to blame for the strange directions.
The scenario was a bit of a cliché but the actors managed to create believable characters who were reluctant to enter the derelict college, but desperate enough to put up with it temporarily.
The ending was surprisingly unpredictable. Once you've watched it once, you'll want to watch it again. It gets better the more you watch it.

Students crashing at an abandoned ex Catholic reformatory/school thingee conduct a seance, entity apparently gate-crashes though you never actually see it. Students wander around the building for the rest of the film, dying one by one though you never see them being killed just their prone bodies afterwards.
Add a bearded edgy outsider (survivor of the original seance and suicide spree when the school was functioning) who is in the know on these things and lives in a secret room in the building with (sigh) bible messages and drawings etched all over the walls, neglect to put in any scares whatsoever and cue end credits.
Poor direction to boot; quite an emphasis on 'hanging' in this film though unrealsitically done. With the last victim in particular you could clearly see the cord was loose around the victims neck. Saw a little of the poor extras just enough to observe the female director 'Toni' someone or other who whilst referring to a tunnel scene she wanted to incorporate after finding what looked like a corroded metal dust chute, referred to herself in the third person (a real pet hate of mine) saying how she had thought 'in Toni's world' (ooh I'm so zany me) it would look good until she was advised otherwise.
The young actors did what they could considering the limitations of the director. There were some awful scenes where other actors were just used as screen filler especially noticeable during the opening sequence when Gately was given lots of lines with the other male actor being his foil during the initial seance whilst the two female actors were mute witness to all goings on, really, really unrealistic and I felt quite sorry for them. I do not recommend this as a foray into horror and hope this director has moved onto more suitable genres.