Very Eerie, But Not Quite a Classic

Rating: 7/10 (10 November 2008)

This movie is overall very interesting. It would certainly fall into the horror genre, of course, but this is a different kind of horror movie.
The story follows several college kids into Maryland's Black Hills Forest as they try to make a documentary about a Maryland witchcraft legend. However, the students "go missing", and their film footage is found a year later. Not a bad story line.
The characters were very believable, considering that playing a movie like a true story isn't the easiest thing to do. The style of filming was, I think, what made the movie the most enjoyable. It was shot in the style of amateur-film-making, in that the quality was quite as sharp as "real" movies, and that the camera is bumped and shaken quite a bit. These factors made the story a little more believable, as horror movie plot lines are either believable or fake: there is no inbetween. I also love the absence of music throughout the movie, which added to the thrill. So, good characters, good concept, good style. That's what I can say about the movie that is positive.
Now, what I can say about the movie that isn't so positive is the story in general (not to be confused with the plot line). It was very hard to follow overall. Ideas and characteristics that should have been explained better were very vague, and things that should have been clear were confusing. It wasn't a STRAIGHT ride all the way through the movie (movies rarely are), but it throws you off track instead. Basically, the beginning was good and well-defined, the middle was confusing and vague.
The ending was about the best part of the movie. The instant the camera fell on that old, deserted, run-down house in the middle of the woods was definitely the high point. Then, it was an eerie, chilling roller- coaster ride to the very end, when Heather screams "Josh!", the camera falls to the ground, and all is silent. One really interesting thing about the plot is that you know the students died, but you don't know what killed them (yet it is, so people say, understood). It keeps viewers formulating their own ideas about what happened there, but it also leaves many very confused.
Overall, good movie, good characters, good concept, but not too good of a buildup. Nice try, though. I would say that this is a movie for fans of "traditional" horror, suspense movies, and the supernatural. Or, if you happen to be bored on Halloween afternoon and are waiting for the "slaughter" movies to begin. Overall, not a bad horror film.
7/10 bloody handprints. And if you happen to look at the house closely, there was a lot more than 10.