Okay...the criticisms are valid, but its still very good.

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 1999)

For those of you muddling through all the reviews of this movie, I am going to bottom-line it for you. It's better than most of the crap coming out of the major studios. It's better than about 80-90% of the films I've seen in the last few years. Yes, its hokey at some points (its impossible to believe anyone would keep filming in some of the circumstances meeting the crew later in the movie). It might be a stretch to call it brilliant, but if you try to avoid knowing TOO much about it, go sit in a dark theater and try not to over-analyze the little problems, it will scare you and it will leave you thinking about it.
Lastly, a quick commentary on the MPAA. If I've ever seen a movie that should have carried a rating (NC17) to absoluteley keep kids out of the theater...this is it. There is no specific shot or image or sound that would really even rate an R these days (except maybe for the excessive swearing). But the theme of the movie is raw and intense and horrifying, way too strong for kids. I sat next to a young girl, maybe 10 or 11 and she was visibly shaken by what she saw. The MPAA is a joke, we live in the only country in the world where Stanley Kubrick's final movie had to be edited to obscure some sex scenes to secure an R rating. Yet this film, which could be emotionally traumatizing to a child, falls through the cracks because there is nothing blatantly pornographic. Violence is much more damaging to the human mind than sex...wake up MPAA.
See the movie, leave the kids with the baby-sitter.