What a surprise this was! And that ending! (SPOILERS)

I literally found out about this movie and decided to watch it. I thought I had it all pretty figure out what was going to happen, but by the end I was pretty wrong, and a little unsettled.

I was also surprised how they didn't really shy away from the violence towards children which most directors do, though it was never exploitative or tasteless, and it really added to it.

But man, while there were many tense sequences and inventive kills (the arrow shooting through the beehive into the guys chest was genius!) once all hell broke loose it just escalated in the best way. When the truck drove through the boys tent, daammnn.

But then that ending, they build up the female camp leader as so sympathetic, so obviously with most horror films I figured she would be saved during that final, incredibly tense ordeal. And when the boy with the mask came back up from the pit, I was so sure it was going to be the actual feral child. So I figured okay, she'll escape, we return the first scene, and he'll kill the guy and save her in time.

Wellllll... totally didn't see that coming and it really elevated the film for me.

Clever premise, strong performances, and very tense at times. This is one of those unsung gems of the genre, but I understand how it would not ever be released as a mainstream film in the USA. Unless, of course, they changed the ending to what I was expecting.

Highly recommended.