I wonder if it just released at the perfect time... I know that, for me at least, college was my first exposure to REAL internet (ie, non-dial up). Not just that it was getting distributed online, but this was when "word of mouth" was expanded through AOL Instant Messenger, Nokia cell phones and burned cd's.

So maybe young, impressionable minds with shitty taste in movies all watched it around the same time? lol