A new classic with only two minor flaws.

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 1999)

Since my comment will be buried under hundreds of others within weeks of it's posting, I'll keep it very brief.
First of all, it's a classic. It met almost all of my expectations that the last three months of underground hype built up. Seeing this, I felt exhilarated that I was watching horror movie history unfold. It was kind of the equivalent of taking Mr. Peabody's Way-Back machine to the 60's to see the original "Psycho", or to the 70's to see "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
I only had two, VERY MINOR, problems.
#1. The sound level. I know the directors wanted this to seem very real, and that digitizing the sound would have ruined the realism. But the movie was so quiet, I felt they lost an opportunity to utilize the sophisticated sound systems that most theatres have. The low volume also makes it possible to hear what other moviegoers are saying. I saw the movie in a packed house at midnight, and unfortunatly just a few jerk-off screen talkers who kept laughing at inappropriate moments almost totally ruined the vibe of the film. That's why I wanted it louder, I wanted something to drown them out.
#2. I wanted a bit more back story. I knew that the web site to the film had lots of neat information about the town history of massacres, and how the tapes were found. To my surprise, almost none of that was in the film. Now I know that part of what makes this so scary is it's self-contained ambiguity. But I still wanted a little more near the beginning about the history of the town. The fact that the producers leaned too hard on the website for details was the one element of it's promotion I didn't care for.
But as I said above, these are very minor quibbles that didn't keep me from enjoying what, ten years from now, will be considered to be a classic.