Slick, decent little thriller, with very good aspects

Rating: 7/10 (31 October 2005)

A decent little earner grossing over 240million dollars from just 20 odd thousand dollars invested. It twists and turns with suspense built up throughout. You feel little sympathy towards the characters plight however as they seem to create their own demise. For example Mike throws the map into the river, Heather gets them lost constantly, and they don't even follow basic survival techniques despite the book Heather brought with her which must have included sections on compass readings and possible reasons for it leading them in a circle. It would have said follow the river!! Leads away from the source which is in the Forest! Obvious!! Despite the above let downs, this film has got some serious good points. As a horror fan i like to see a good plot, a decent believable cast and a solid scare. This film delivers an original plot that has intrigue surrounding it from the get go. The cast are very believable as you see their true reactions, partly due to the filming and production techniques of withholding food etc!! And lastly this has the scare is amazing. You never see the force behind the scariness. You never see the people behind the children's voices. You never even see the witch or anything!! A great idea.
I would recommend this film to all newcomers. When you see this film you will find yourself waiting until the end of the credits to see if it actually was true as it looks so real. To this day people still believe this film is real!! It isn't people but hey amazing as it is!! Slick and cool, very decent addition to a horror collection.