She played the role so well. It was chilling. She was only 13/14 at the time.

well to be fair he and the mom had issues and Esther really seemed like a sweet 12-year old (with the kids under her threat) so it wasn't hard to imagine something like that happening within the context of the family dynamicsif that makes sense.

Besides Esther 'the husband' was the only likable character in the film, his wife was beep crazy.

I agree he was dumb.
Like when the psychiatrist came in and was like we are sending you to rehab.
I was like wait you have no beep weight in this conversation you bitch.
I thought it was believable until the hospital senario. He should have looked into what his wife was telling him. He never gave her a chance.

His character was not a bad one, just clueless, but loving.

Lol. Ya I'm watching now and I had to pause to say exact same thing! Sarsgaard a great actor too and usually plays the bad guy. So seeing him play such a lovable putz, makes it even worse! Just lost a kid and lil deaf daughter and son who hates her and instead of being protective? He talks like she loves her more. Ya this was worst written character ever. Sure if she kills his wife, will be his wife fault.

Have you been living under a rock for 40 years?
Man stupid. TV commercial? Man stupid. Sitcom plot? Man stupid. Movie twist? Man stupid.

This message has been deleted.

You have a razor at your throat, you're not likely to move suddenly.

to be fair
she was also a child (you know) , 3 years younger than him
he could easily push her off.
eitherways, we are just joking.

He was a child and had a razor pressed to his crotch. Give the kid a break.

yeah, when she was on his bedroom, and threat him.
pfft.. coward boy.. so brave in school with his pals bullying her but when he is alone

Exactly. She at least stood up to Ester and saved her brother. He was afraid of her. Didn't she say something that made him wet himself?
Say, do you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper..

Im pretty sure he is talking about the character
and i agree, even Max who is little and almost deaf is more brave than him

Nice attitude about a child.

I found the son to be entirely unlikeable. He was a brat, and a punk and he was a complete coward. I loved it when Ester smothered him.
Say, do you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper..

I agree and I found him to be really annoying too but I think he was deliberately written to be unlikable 'cause it fitted the film and if they had made him any other way it wouldn't have been the same.

It don't matter if it's raining
Nothing can phase me
I make my own sunshine
And if you think you can break me
Baby, you're crazy
I make my own sunshine

Made me feel sorry for the actor. I really hope that it was just a paycheck role. The character is god awful.

The wife did not cheat.

Well, the husband and wife both did cheat on each other. And I recall the husband saying that he could have left like 6 months ago. Not to mention she almost let their child die.

My fiance and I just said the exact same thing. That dude acted like he hated his wife. I'd have left him.

My sentiments exactly. The husband was the biggest idiot ever to not see what was going on.

I've always loved this film(seen it approximately 6 times) & I just sat down to watch TV & happened to come across it. I turned it on during the scene where the nun was at their house trying to warn them & the dad just kept doing his usual denial routine. I immediately got so upset because his behavior was always thee one thing about this film that literally made me see red. So I paused it & came straight to imdb to see if anyone else had the same issue with the dad I do & your post was the very first one on the board. Sothat said.thank you(long sigh.)