Reviews

When I stumbled on this movie at my local video store I thought: "Oh great ! Another Blair witch rip-off !" I rented it anyway (who doesn't love to make fun of bad movies) and had to find out... that I was wrong ! "The Dark Area" doesn't try to "fool" the audience. It ain't some pseudo-documentary-footage. The story begins at a police station where a cop is trying to interrogate a young student (Now, that sounds to me like that awful Blair Witch-sequel, doesn't it ) called Tobias. But the poor guy won't answer, so the cop does the only thing left to do and turns on a VCR, confronting Tobias with some footage that shows what actually happened. Now the movie turns into a version of TBWP, complete with its blurred images and rustling sound. To put it another way: Blair Witch fans will feel just like back home. The footage itself shows Tobias and four of his friends on an expedition into some abandoned woods, trying to find and film a rare breed of snakes. Of course they find "something" else... As I said, I had to change my mind after seeing this film. "The Dark Area" is a very clever and eventful low-budget movie with some of the most eerie scenes I have ever seen (The first "audible encounter" with the killer) and a great non-documentary-ending that came right out of the blue. Rating: 3 out of 4