"The Gift" is a return for filmmaker Sam Raimi. After making the failed Kevin Costner baseball drama "For the Love of the Game," Raimi, the director of cult films "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness," turns again to the horror genre. Thankfully, the audience pays the price — "The Gift" is one scary movie.

While it may not have much beyond its chills and thrills, it accomplishes the goal of leaving the audience frightened. More than a few viewers will have to leave the lights on when they return home.

The story focuses on Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett, "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), a single mother with the gift of extrasensory perception.

Annie works as a tarot card reader for a colorful group of characters in a small Georgia town. Her clients include Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi), a gas station mechanic with psychological problems, and Valerie Barksdale (Hilary Swank), a timid victim of her husband's domestic abuse. Indeed, Valerie's husband, Donnie (Keanu Reeves), is threatening Annie because she has been advising Valerie to leave him.

Eventually, Annie becomes engulfed in a murder mystery when popular town socialite, Jessica King (Katie Holmes), turns up dead.

Annie's visions lead police to find Jessica's body in Donnie's pond. Now she must use her gift to help unravel the truth behind the murder, all while protecting herself and her family.

Solving the mystery is a thoroughly enjoyable ride; however, the superlatives should stop there.

Raimi's talent is evident; he creates some great visuals that demonstrate artistic flair beyond just throwing gore on the camera lens (a technique grossly overused in recent horror flicks).

He also demonstrates a good sense of suspense by pacing the important moments of the film well.

However, although the direction holds the film together as an above average scary movie, the rest of the elements never really extend themselves.

A number of "big name" stars compose the cast, but they never do anything remarkable. Cate Blanchett has done much better work in other films ("Elizabeth," in particular); Hilary Swank exhibited more talent at being an abused redneck in "Boys Don't Cry;" Katie Holmes has trouble escaping her television persona, and Keanu Reeves, well, he is probably extending himself as far as he can go, which has never been very far.

But the unremarkable performances cannot be blamed solely on the actors. In fact, they are less to blame than the script, written by Billy Bob Thornton (director of "All the Pretty Horses") and Tom Epperson. One is hard pressed to imagine what else the actors could have done with such thinly developed characters.

Indeed, a whole aspect of the story involving Ribisi's character is somewhat unnecessary and makes the film drag at the mid-way point.

Also, the script fails outside of the characterizations. For example, the setting of the film, the swamps of the South, is rather perfunctory and has been used before in other efforts.

While Raimi utilizes this setting effectively, the film could have been more dynamic had it gone outside its rather conventional setting.

Finally, the film as a whole just seems a little too similar to Thornton's debut effort, "Sling Blade." "Blade" seems to leave a residue on much of "The Gift's" script both in terms of setting and characters.

While such setting and characters work well in a drama, they just seem to bog down the horror aspects.

If Thornton wants to write a horror movie or a thriller, he has to escape some of the trappings of "Sling Blade" and extend himself.

However, none of these flaws make the film any less worthy in terms of what it is. It delivers thrills and does it competently with a certain amount of visual flair.

Although there are elements that keep it from excelling in a more general scope, it fits nicely into its niche.

"The Gift" is much more enjoyable than many other horror films or thrillers that have been released lately. It displays artistic maturity and it certainly surpasses the vast wasteland of teen thrillers that seem to have been filling the area of suspense films since the success of Wes Craven's "Scream."

"The Gift" is a glimpse of something better and leaves much to be expected from Raimi's next project, in which he will bring the Spider-Man comic book series to the big screen.

--three and a half shamrocks (out of five)

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