A truly remarkable film

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 1999)

Finally saw the movie after reading about it, hearing about it, and yes I knew it was fiction. It still sent my heart racing in several spots. I wouldn't call it the scariest movie I've ever seen, but it ranked higher than most. The tension was so raw, and the climax at the end was utterly convincing. Horror? Yes, but not the spoon-fed gimmicky horror of Scream or The Haunting.
I know there will be a lot of people who won't get it. People who haven't grown sick of Hollywood potty-training will not be able to appreciate something as inventive as this. Ironically, you could criticize the film for not having much of a plot and that the characters don't act logically. But the film perfectly emulates real life which isn't plotted and people frequently aren't logical under such stress. We can only make those criticisms because we are outside viewers. To enjoy this film, you have can't set yourself "above" it an expect to be entertained.
I saw the movie with a friend who found it plenty disturbing. His summary was "the perfect example of how three inexperienced people who have NO business being in the woods in the first place royally screw themselves over." I agree. I almost burst into tears along with the students when they encountered the log crossing they'd been at earlier in the day and realized they'd been going in circles. Witch legend or not, this should be a testament to anyone who wants to go jaunting off into the deep woods without any serious preparation or at least a local guide in an unfamiliar area.
As for whatever was stalking them, well that was the truly disturbing part. The ending was terrifying, and utterly confusing at the same time. Those who didn't like the endingÂ… well, the film said that these students disappeared and were never found. It didn't say that they died, although I'm certain that's what happened to them. People don't disappear and leave tidy explanations as to what happened to them. I found myself haunted by this film long after I left the theater, and I had anxiety dreams about it all night.
Bravo to Haxan Films. Maybe this will be a wake-up call to the Holly-hacks that have reduced the so-called "horror genre" to cheap scares, gore, CGI unbelievability, and gratuitous wise-cracks and laugh lines.