A real movie.

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 1999)

It has been a couple of weeks since I saw this film on a preview. At that time, I knew NOTHING about it except its stated premise: 3 filmmakers are lost in the woods and a year later their footage is found. So I went, very sure that this was not the actual case. The ending credits belied the premise. It was "only a movie" after all. Yet, throughout, I found myself involved and then I would pull myself out and say, "would they really do that." I must tell you. For pure veracity, this film is unbeatable. It could be exactly what it says. To think such an effective film could be made for under $50,000, and have such talented actors, that the actors were the camera operators and improvise their lines, and that we see absolutely nothing that is inherently frightening, is quite amazing. Everything that scares us is what we do not see. This is one of the best conceived film projects I have ever seen. It uses its medium (this could be done in NO other art form) and hits where it intends. By the way, on a more prosaic level such as was the directing/writing good? the performances sound? YES! Every element was excellent, and Heather Donahue deserves an Oscar nomination.