I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much when I popped this DVD into the player last night and then nearly turned it off a few minutes into it just because I didn’t like the way the director was moving the camera between the characters, my mind thinking I had once again gotten my hands on another low budget piece of junk that studios churn out by the hundreds just to fill a spot within the colorful cover that sits on the shelf luring horror fans in.   After that though I decided to give the film a chance and kept watching and was pleasantly surprised with how good it actually was, a part of me feeling relieved that there is still some horror talent out there in Hollywood and that our beloved genera does have some embers left, ones that could rebuild the fire that has slowly been dying since the late nineties.   

The film follows a group of college kids as they travel to an isolated beach in Mexico to catch

some good waves, ones which the main character’s brother had found a few days earlier.  Naturally the older brother and his friends are nowhere to be found once the new group arrives, but their vehicle, surf boards, motorbikes and tents are still there.  From that point on things quickly get more and more bizarre as one member of the group starts to notice figures in the background while watching footage from his camera and then stumbles upon a bone yard of human remains, one which will soon have more decomposing skeletons as night falls and the

creatures that inhabit the cursed area grow bolder and more relentless.  

Well scripted and well acted this movie is a good choice for those of us who have seen all the classics over and over again and want something new but are tired of the constant stream of straight to DVD films that falsely promise to be great even though no one in their right mind would think this after viewing them.  It was also nice to finally have a film that didn’t rely on buckets of blood and guts, and showed the violence in a way that was disturbing but not really in your face (for those that want blood and guts, however, there is a scene involving eyelids being removed that is pretty nasty -- one which I had to look away from).  

As I stated earlier, the one big downside with this film was the jerky camera movements, which, unfortunately seems to be a fad amongst younger directors who think that a unique perspective alone will make a movie great, but instead often does just the opposite.  When seeing a movie people want to forget that there is a camera between them and the characters, and get swept up by the story, something which doesn’t happen very well when one is constantly reminded of the cameras presence given these jerky ‘artistic’ movements.  Thankfully, however, this doesn’t ruin the movie and there are enough good freaky moments to elevate this film above the usual garbage that is plaguing the horror genera.