Still fairly strong after 20 years

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2019)

I recently re-watched this with my teenage kids. They enjoyed it, a bit, but it's difficult to explain to them just what an impact this "home video" blockbuster made on the pre-YouTube film-making world when it first came out. And I can't say for sure how much of my attraction to it has to do with nostalgia (I saw it while on a date, in an indie theater so long time ago). The instability of the camera work still makes my wife sick, after all of these years. Aside from the novelty of its lo-fi, homemade film style (in 1999, anyways), the acting was fairly strong. Had it not been, I suspect that this film would never have made it out the gate. The storyline is decent, the assemblage of different characters is fun, and there's a reasonable balance of action and introspection. What's missing? According to my son, the witch herself. In our current age of "top 5 carcrash" styled YouTube lists and 720p jumpscares, the lack of a visible boogeyman proved too anticlimactic for his taste. Maybe I'll re-watch in another 20 years, and let you know what I think.