This movie totally rocks!! Especially for all of you who fell in love with Christian Slater's performance in "Heather's". He has this "face" that just cannot be duplicated- the eyes, that grin, the eyebrows, the wicked voice. But he never could really grasp that perfection again. Oh, he was GREAT in "Murder in the First"; GOOD in "Untamed Heart", "Hard Rain", "Broken Arrow", and "True Romance"; OKAY in "The Contender", "Young Guns 2", "Robin Hood"; and although "Pump Up the Volume" was a little weird, it was actually enjoyable. My point is, after "Heathers", it took Slater 22 YEARS to again reach that perfect character. He (being the bad guy), performed his BEST acting ,since "Heathers", in this movie. Very memorable performance. And the perfect role for him. Then there's Wes Bentley- mostly known for his "dark" roles ( I mean, look at that face, those eyes- he just screams those types of roles!). But after great performances in movies like "Ghost Rider", "American Beauty", "Soul Survivors", "The Ungodly", and "P2", you will be pleasantly surprised with Wes' role in this movie. He's a man in pain, after losing his wife to a killer, yet he's kind of hard to figure out. Yeah, he's gonna go after the guy for revenge, but it's his methods that kind of confuse you. You're actually completely unsure of Wes' full intentions until THE very end of the movie. If you're a smoker, you'll want to go for a smoke, if you're not, you might want a cigarette anyway! The cool thing about the movie as a whole is, the fact that there's not fifty characters running around , to keep up with. Just a handful of great performances from beginning to end. And the movie does us the favor of going straight from the beginning to the end, without a lot of bullshit, stalling, or boring periods of time to endure. I couldn't think of anything that I would change, or add to this movie. It was moving, exciting, sad, eerie, unpredictable, and definitely original. No, I haven't read the book, and I don't intend to- I haven't had a movie "grip" me in this way in a long time, and I don't want to chance altering that. I have to add, that Al Sapienza, who I had NEVER heard of in my life, was also excellent in this movie. He has a certain "it" factor going on, and he played his role well.( Nice on the eyes, as well). My opinion: If you like a good thriller (not horror), with continuous entertainment from beginning to the end, then you have got to check out this movie. ( Especially those of you, like me, that have been desperately waiting for Christian Slater to "push" that "bar" again- HE FINALLY DID IT!! GAVE IT 100%!!). Enjoy.