This is a pooh pooh movie. It is not scary. It has an awful story line. It has awful acting. It a pooh pooh movie. Pooh pooh pooh. It you want to get scared see Sleep Hollow (1999) do not see this movie.

Two sisters, Kayla (Ravensbergen) and Jessie (Caron) are deep in the woods with their boyfriends hiking to their Grandparents cottage. They come across the remains of a house on the way there where a terrible evil once happened. Without knowing they unleash a supernatural force that follows them to the Cottage. Jessie's body is discovered and brought to the cottage where it reanimates and tries to kill them. Writer/Director Michael Penning working from no budget makes great use of his location and wisely delivers solid atmosphere into this weird tale of supernatural. The movies strongest point is keeping the audience off balance and wondering what is coming next. Along the way there is some hair raising moments and a few genuine scares. Penning put together a good cast here which helps considerably. This is no masterpiece but a tidy little horror film that does what it set out to do.

Spunky Jesse (fetching Christina Caron), her sweet sister Kayla (foxy Freya Ravensbergen), Kayla's affable and thoughtful boyfriend Dean (nicely played by Matt Turner), and Dean's best bud Tobe (likable Jon Deitcher) venture into the deep woods in order to rest and relax at a summer getaway cottage. However, the quartet wind up running afoul of a mysterious sinister and supernatural force haunting the immediate area. Writer/director Michael Penning relates the compelling story at a steady pace, makes effectively creepy use of the remote sylvan setting, and ably builds a spooky atmosphere that becomes more increasingly bleak, eerie, and unnerving as the narrative unfolds towards a shockingly grim surprise conclusion. The four main characters are all well acted, appealing, and, most importantly, realistically drawn (for example, one guy breaks down and cries after discovering the mangled body of his friend). Geoff Klein's sharp cinematography gives the picture an impressively polished look. Penning's spare'n'shuddery score likewise does the shivery trick without ever getting too obtrusive or overbearing. The startling moments of sudden savage violence pack a pretty nasty punch. The tight 74 minute running time ensures that this movie doesn't overstay its welcome. Well worth a watch.

A slightly better than passable B grade movieThe storyline isn't bad but never seems to be completely fulfilled. Nevertheless, the movie kept me interested till the end. So, let's start with the acting:The acting, overall, wasn't bad with the exception of a couple of minor characters. While professional, the acting lacked polish but was overall believable (for the most part).Plot development: Plot development was definitely lacking in this film with the main characters doing some truly unexplainable things in this movie. It seems like the screenwriter went out of his way to make the plot less than believable. From the scene where one of the characters inexplicably removes the car keys from his friends backpack (preventing escape of course) to the placement of a butchers knife in the bedroom, leaving a convenient, if inexplicable, murder weapon, the plot elements were not placed well. All of these things could have been accomplished without resorting to cliché' or unbelievable behavior.Photography: I thought this was the most professional part of the film. The camera work was very well done and allowed for some excitement in what could have otherwise been some rather boring scenes.Directing: I think the director did the best with what he had to work with. I think a slightly better script with better placement of plot elements to move the story along would have given this movie a much better rating but I still enjoyed it overall.