Amateur theatrics with real sense of horror looming in the distance.

Rating: 1/10 (9 July 1999)

A terrific sense of horror looms over this amateur production. I loved the design elements, from the series of twig bundles to the abandoned "cabin" at the end with the bloodied hand prints on the walls. However, the amateur level of theatrics and ad-libbing take a major leap of imagination to overcome. Michael Williams comes off best in the least showy role, with Heather Donohue and Joshua Leonard coming across as sophomore college drama students left too long to their own devices. I understand it would be very difficult to develop any sense of plot and script when you leave it to the improvisational skills of untried talent, but perhaps a real script with improv touches would have resulted in a truly interesting horror flick. Also the conceit of having Heather NEVER give up her camera really breaks the believability in moments when no person would realistically keep filming.