how are they not phased by the creature toward the beginning?

Good question. I wondered the same thing myself.

They were simple folk and back then didn't have any TV/Internet, people didn't have the capacity to know every species of animal like we do today. They probably figured it was some creature that has been indentified but they just haven't heard of it.

911 Operator: The body's cold?
Buffy: No, my mom! Sh-should I make her warm?
- The Body

They said something implying that they thought it had been skinned, and that it might have been some kind of boar. Granted, it must've a scary thought that someone or something out there would do that to an animal, but still I think that's the conclusion they reached.

In response to your first comment, the reason the gang isn't more concerned with the "freaky beast they shot down in the corn field" is, a.) it is dead and no longer poses a threat to them, and b.) they are on the run from the law with pounds of stolen gold. Think about is this way: if you had a suitcase full of money that you had stolen and were trying to find a place to hide, you wouldn't be very concerned with an animal that attacks you if you'd already shot and killed it, regardless of its appearance. You're carrying a suitcase full of money! If you stop to stare at a dead animal, chances are you're not a very good criminal.

Your second complaint was that when the footprints turn from shoes into paws, Washington's character should have been more frightened. Alex Turner (the director) wanted this scene to convey the idea that Todd might have been following himself. If you pay attention, there are clues throughout the film that the events that occurred in the house are cyclical, they repeat themselves endlessly.
For example, most of the robbers die in ways similar to the ways that the family and/or slaves died. William is shot by soldiers who see him not as another human but as a strange creature rushing at them from the corn field. Sam becomes possessed and then partially transforms into a demon to kill Todd. Clyde is hung up on the scarecrow post just like Mr. Hollister (the father of the original family) but is also cut open, filled with straw, then sewn back shut. So, it could be assumed that Todd might have appeared as a demon if someone outside of the house had seen him.

A few of the characters are simply killed, either by another member of the gang or as a result of being tricked by the demons. Annabelle is shot by William when he mistakes her for a demon in the corn field, Todd is forced through a portal into the other dimension (where the demons came from) by Sam and Joseph is pulled to his death in the well. Joseph is also used as a sort of bate to get Todd, William and Annabelle to investigate the barn.

that is the same thing i thought. i mean a normal human being would take a second to think and really investigate the type of crature they had just shot but they move on like it was just a nother dog. I think the guys were just plain disturbed in the first place.

Yes, those two things bugged me as well.

I would have wondered about the creature they shot/killed.
Was it dead and what the heck was it.

The scarecrow, obviously it was a person and they just walk on by it.

The shoe prints in the house morphing into the prints. I saw that and wondered if they were going to explain it.

The horses being mauled/eaten up?

The people disappearing?

Suddenly the door that two men were unable to open or pry open just opened by itself.


Somehow Todd and the girl from some vision(s) were like this is what happened.
I was like what in the heck. It seemed to me like they ran out of ideas or they needed a quick tie up so that was it.

I like the story idea but the execution of this plot was weak.

I thought the actors did well though.


If you don't have much to begin with, then you don't have much to lose.

It does seem kind of odd that they weren't a bit more unsettled, but as someone said they might have figured it was nothing special aside from the fact that it was skinned.

But also, it did get shot down quickly, so even if they did think there might be more then why shouldn't the rest of them be killed just as easily?

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