Now it must be noted that the directorial and cinematogrphic work were outstanding, and the fact that most of the movie was ad-libbed was incredible.  But that could not make up for the fact that the movie had all the depth and originality of the name John Smith.

    The film was well done, but not good.  It is unfortunate that so many people were duped into believing that this was a quality terror piece, when I have been more terrified by long lines in the bathrooms after a movie.

    Disappointment does not begin to describe what I felt all through this movie.

THEY SHOOK THE DAMN TENT AND PLAYED A TAPE OF BABIES CRYING!

    That's it.  If the movie was adlibbed then there was no script (or very little of one) and no "direction" at all cause the kids made it up as they went.  So how can we prase the Writers/Directors of a movie with no writing or directing in it? (oh yeah, they also made a bunch of little stick thingies- whoo hoo)

    I was not only not scared by this "film" I was annoyed, very annoyed. I don't know who that girl is but if I run into her on the street, say with my car I would slowly put my car into it's reverse driving mode and slam on the gas with all the fury of hell.  Then I would put it in drive and slowly pull forward until I felt two distinct bumps and then go on about my business as though nothing had happened.
 
    So great is my hatred there was only one thing I liked about the movie, and indeed the only aspect of this "I don't want a real job so I'll take film class" project that is worth praise is- you guessed it- the advertising campaign. $35,000 to make the movie and 15,000,000 promoting it.

    How could this have happened, you may ask?  It's simple. (half of you just stopped reading) For the last decade And a half we, meaning our generation, has been desensitized not to sex or violence, but to good films. Up until the very late 70's and early 80's the film industry was very highly regulated. "You can't say this word or show that body part"- so on and so forth.  This kind of went against the first amendment, which is of course negative, but a very positive outcome was that this regulation forced filmmakers to become more creative in the way they told their stories.

    This generally forced them to put a lot more time and thought into their work. These 40's 50's and 60's era films stimulated us with thoughts and ideas which absolutely requires good acting and directing.  Today, why bother to spend a lot of time and energy on developing characters and a good script when you can just throw in a naked chick and a few explosions and make more money doing so?

    Think about this. Name a list of actors and actress you admire because of their acting skills that are over 45 and then make another list of under the
age of 45.  I bet you the over 45 list is at least twice as big.

    The simple fact is we are used to crap.  We even expect crap.  Blair Witch is a hit 'cause it's different. We just want to be entertained.  Either by deep thought
or naked chicks and explosions.  We choose the latter because in it we don't have to think.  I belive that Hollywood has forced these movies down our throats because they are easier to make.  Not necessarily less expensive, but creatively easier.