A promising premise sets a solid stage for terror.

"Eli" has a strong payoff too with a memorably intense final 15 minutes. But that roaring finish feels like it should come much earlier in the picture. The story ends just when it's finally going somewhere.

We have no real idea what's going on through most of Eli, which results in a film that is more often confusing than frightening.

Eli plays things too close to the chest for too much of its runtime, but the fiery finale is mostly worth the wait.