Use your Imagination!

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2000)

The best films call on our imaginations. The very reason that there is such a difference of opinion of this film is because of that. Each person viewed a different film because what was experienced was ultimately not on the screen but in the minds of the viewer. The film gave us a premise and left us to take it in our own direction, much like the radio shows of yesteryear. Today, many people do not really know how to use their imaginations. They don't read books. They're used to seeing films where everything is shown, where emotions are reduced to cynicism, and where reality is defined in clear-cut images.
This film is not about the Blair Witch, or a group of foul-mouthed teens (I can't believe that somebody actually felt a need to count how many times the word "f**k" was used!) lost in the woods, or how to make an audience nauseous via shaky camera movements. It's about terror, pure and simple. Horror movies are a dime a dozen. This is not a horror movie. In is an exercise in finding a way to enable an audience to delve into the same world that their personal nightmares spring from (their own dark imaginations) through the device of cameras, lights and a fine cast. At the end, whether it is a success or not is up to the viewer, not the filmmakers. They built the boat and set the course, but it is our task to steer it.
I do however give great credit to the filmmakers who crafted such a fine vehicle. And I have to give major kudos to Heather Donohue who gave the best performance of the year (along with Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry"). It is through her voice that we hear our own terror voiced. And most importantly see reflected in her eyes. Tremendous performance! Very interesting film!