fantastic horror movie

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 1999)

This is probably the best horror movie I have ever seen -- and I've seen quite a few. (In fact, a rewatched The Birds a few weeks ago, which, until now, was my favorite horror film.) The documentary style is clever; it moves the story along and helps us see things through the characters eyes. The tension builds from nothing to extreme. The fear it arouses comes entirely from that tension -- we never see what is out there, and there are no cheap scares from sudden surprises.
I found this film to be totally engrossing. My impression, moreover, is that everyone else in the full theater felt the same way. I don't know if I've ever been in a movie theater that was so quite during and after a film.
The only negative aspect of this experience for me (like someone else who posted comments here) is that it actually left me feeling queasy. I think that was because of the jerky cameras. But this is not intended to be criticism -- doing the film in fake, amateur style was great; it's just a warning that you might not want to eat a lot before or during the movie.