great at making you scared

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 1999)

Firstly to the sceptics... If you have ever gone hiking in the woods and been lost with a bunch of mates no older than 20 you would completely understand everything that goes on in this film. Group dynamics fall apart and the so-called leader, leads the group astray. Fortunately most of these events turn out good however something else is at work in this film.
Whilst I have an objection to complete improvisation in a film it has worked very well for this one. The authenticity of what happens is frighteningly chilling. People our age swear worse than those in that film. There is always an annoying "chick" you drives people insane over their petty little causes. The characters were not written leaving room for faults and inconsistencies we see in everyday cinema. But rather they were constructed by people who most likely were those characters in real life. Good acting is not acting at all.
Being in the army I know what it is like to be up at night in the cold because you heard noises (only in training). Most of the time it is gunshots but not all the time. Your cold, you wanna sleep and you are scared simply because it is night (and if it were real you'd probably be dead). Hence those night scenes, the darkness, the cold, and the noises really hit home and play on the primal fear of the dark and the unknown. Unlike every other "scary" film out now, this one leaves it all up to your imagination, the most powerful tool! You can think of so much more than you can see and that scares people.
My recomendation is experience the film in a dark place with good sound and think of those times you got scared as a kid or a teenager in the night. Then you may understand what the people in the film are going through. And even though it is not real, it is still a landmark achievement in making you scared! not just of the film, but every time that light goes out and the cold air fills the place!