Two days ago AICN’s Drew McWeeny/Moriarty posted a reader pan of Jonathan Hensleigh‘s Welcome to the Jungle, a Blair Witch-y kids-vs-cannibals shocker that I saw and favorably reviewed last November. As kids-in-peril movies go, it struck me as an unusually spooky, unnerving, cut-above thing — an experience that “creeped me out in a way I’m not likely to forget.”

I therefore don’t get why it’s going straight to video — Movies Unlimited and Amazon are posting an 11.13.07 release.

I was particularly aroused by “the raw non-staginess of it, the realistic atmosphere, the non-actorish acting, the hand-held photography, and the seemingly authentic [Fiji/New Guinea] locales. You can taste the moisture and the earthy-leafy jungleness all through it, but especially in the second half. Which jacks up the fear factor once the uh-oh stuff happens.”