America's psychiatrists aren't going to like the creepy undercurrent of "They".

When psychology student Julia Lund (Regan) starts having the "night terrors" that she experienced during her childhood again, none of her shrinks think there's anything to worry about.

But they're wrong.

Her closet door really does hide a portal into another world, and the creatures really are coming to get her... and there's nothing in the complete works of Sigmund Freud that can save her.

Sound a little silly? It is, but "They" is also one of the best silly horror movies of recent memory, with some real shocks in store for unwary viewers.

After Julia's best friend Billy (Abrahams) kills himself, she begins to realize that the stories he was telling her about the creatures that come for him in the night could just be true.

Billy's roommates are suffering the same nightmares, the city's power supply keeps blacking out, and Julia's seeing some very strange things lurking in the shadows. But what are 'They'?

In these days of CGI overkill, not many directors manage to keep their monsters hidden off-screen, but director Robert Harmon ("The Hitcher") does exactly that, letting our imaginations do the scaring by giving us just the briefest of glimpses of monster mayhem.

The best sequences are the set-pieces - a car that breaks down in the middle of a dark road, a swimming pool that's suddenly plunged into darkness, and an elevator shaft that houses something very nasty.

None of it is likely to make this into the year's best horror movie, but as far as scaring the pants off you for an hour and a half, "They" will do that. And more.