It bombed at the box office, and he never got to direct again. It's a great movie with a lot of powerful scenes, thematically and visually. Also LOVE/HATE knuckle writing.

It is a great film. This scene in particular should be mandatory viewing for EVERYONE. However, it should be noted this film's ending is one of the most godawful endings to a great movie.

Daniel Handler has admitted he was inspired to write the Lemony Snicket novels based on this scene.

Movie knowledge is the heaviest burden of all.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Contains a couple of the creepiest scenes I've ever seen in a horror movie - "Chiiildren?"