The first ten minutes...
...are incredible. The cinematography really captures the sunlight gloom of the southwest, , the score is perfect, the slow zoom on James Woods and the house is just badass, clearing out the nest, beautiful.
I'm a big John Carpenter fan and I remember seeing this in the movies opening night. I thought "John's back. This is going to be a classic." Then the rest of the movie happens and while it's not bad it never lives up to that initial promise of greatness.