One of the Great Horror Films, but Careful Where you See It

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 1999)

This is truly one of the great horror films, not just because it's scary but because of the way the film comments on what makes its characters open to fear and destruction. It's one of the most cogent comments on its generation that I've ever seen, and the greatest compliment I can pay the film makers is that after getting us to laugh at the characters, particularly their self-absorption and lack of grounding in the real world, it still made me feel sorry for them. But be warned: now that the film has gone wide, I'd recommend not going to your typical mall theatre. The screening I attended was filled with people who had no idea what to expect. Aside from the usual annoyances-late arrivals, cell phones and almost constant talking-the audience was audibly antagonistic to the film. I think they wanted severed heads and loving closeups of mutilated bodies, which is definitely not what this movie is about. In a way, the audience at that screening WAS the characters on screen, even if they were incapable