Constant dread? Did you see the same movie I saw? The only dreadful things about it were the constant mugging of Tom Cruise and the constant shrieking of that annoying little girl. Not to mention Tim Robbins playing his usual "seemingly helpful and harmless, but really creepy" neighbor role.
I guess I don't really care about acting all that much. The dread I'm talking about comes from the mise-en-scene and constant sense of movement that Spielberg gave it.