How it was made is more interesting than the actual product.

Rating: 4/10 (5 August 1999)

This movie apparently lives up to the hype and scares the bejeebers out of some people. Personally, I wasn't impressed, and one kid in front of me got up after it was over and said "it wasn't as good as I thought it'd be" and all of his friends agreed. So be warned -- Your Mileage May Vary.
I didn't find the characters sympathetic, and although believable, most of the time they were just plain annoying. If I had been with that group of people, I would've quietly slipped away and followed a river back to civilization and left them to wander around in circles and scream at each other like a bunch of idiots. The witch wants 'em? Great, she can keep 'em.
However - the characters in this film are incidental to the overall concept, which is the real star of the show, and my central complaint. This isn't a great film - It's a great concept done in a mediocre way. Compare and contrast with, say, "Silence of the Lambs", which took a mediocre concept - a cannibal serial killer meets an attractive female FBI agent - and made it into something great. Most of what makes "Lambs" so effective is the character of Clarice, and how much we believe in her and like her.

These guys relied too heavily on their gimmick. The result is interesting and certainly worth seeing (it'll be better on video than in the theatre) but unfortunately, it's just not a great film.