this was before it came out as fake.

I had just graduated high school. So it was a summer of partying and hanging out with friends. I remember we were drinking in someone's backyard when he started telling us about the movie. I hadn't heard of it yet and I wasn't into horror flicks. So I wasnt interested. We ended up driving to another friends house who had internet to watch the trailer. We watched the trailer and I was like son we gotta see it. It was in limited release. The nearest theater that was playing it was in Anaheim. Which was like 35 minutes away. But fuck it. The next night we drove out there around 7pm. Sold out for the rest of the night. They wouldn't let us buy tickets for the next day either. So we drove back down the next day at 5pm. Same thing sold out for the rest of the night. FUCK! The next day we drove out at 11am and were able to land tickets for the 9pm showing. We bought them and drove back home.

We showed up around 730pm to start lining up for seats. We were one of the first ones there. But right after we got there everyone started showing up. We actually saw a few groups of people we knew who were leaving the earlier shows. They were talking about how scary it was. We were so amped. Grabbed our seats right in the middle of the theater. Man that was a fantastic movie experience. Everyone in the theater thought it was a true story. People were screaming during so much of the movie. But not like the typical scared girl scream, But like OH FUCK OH SHIT. Guys and girls. The scene when they were in the tent and the kids hands started banging on the tent. Man you could feel how uncomfortable and nervous everyone was. Then the ending. When they are walking down the basement stairs and you see the guy in the corner and the whack and the camera falls! MAN everyone was freaking out. Then the credits start up and dead ass silence. Nobody left and nobody talked. Just people sitting there.

I want to say a week later it came out as a hoax and people started coming back from the theaters talking about how wack it was. Them admitting so soon that it was fake ruined that experience for so many people. It was real to me man.