Better than average ghost story

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2002)

It starts off silly, like the writers were fishing for ideas for another teen scream flick and decided on using a video tape that kills people, instead of a psycho that kills people, or a web site that kills people, or a car that kills people, etc. It does get better though, and the whole video tape thing makes sense later on.
There are a couple of things that didn't make sense, like how the girl in the opening scene died of fright yet looked like she was just unearthed from a tomb. The coroner said she had died of a heart attack -- people don't look like that after a heart attack. Obviously they just decided they needed some scary makeup so they stuck it in.
I heard this is a remake of a Japanese film. The original probably relied more on story than effects and so was probably better.
But after a clumsy beginning the movie pulls you in. It turns out to be an intelligent creepshow instead of the teen slasher flick that it starts out becoming. It ends with an original twist that extends the movie considerably and ties together all the loose ends. You need to review the movie in your head, but you will see that it really did come together.
Definitely worth seeing if you like a good scare. But the beginning should be redone to fit the rest of the movie, and they should remove the superfluous and distracting makeup effects.