found footage

Absence (2013) Review

July 30, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Doctors are baffled when an expectant mother wakes to find her nearly-to-term pregnancy apparently disappear overnight. Police investigate the situation as a missing child, and only her husband and brother trust her version of events.

My Quick Review: I don’t have much to say about Absence except for: “Please stop releasing found footage movies as an excuse for a lackluster script and lack of budget“.

I have always been defending the POV style horror genre because I believe, when properly done, it can generates some of the best scares seen on screen. Unfortunately, too many directors rely on the gimmick to cut budget and expand a script that would be best suited for a short.

This is the exact case here with Absence. Would that movie have been part of an anthology, I would have possibly rated it higher (there are 2-3 decent scenes and the acting is not too rough). As it is, Absence is a borefest.

The characters are uninteresting (especially the brother who is borderline misogynist and obnoxious), and worse, the whole film is scare-free.

The fact that we can quickly guess what happened to the baby just adds insult to injury when we are being shown one “kidnapper” during the end credits (did the writers/director believe we would be shocked by this big reveal?).

My Rating: 3/10

Director: Jimmy Loweree

Origin: US

Click Here if you want to watch Absence Online (really?)

Evidence (2013) Review

July 25, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A detective hunts down a killer using video footage shot by the victims of a massacre at an abandoned gas station.

My Review: I was not a fan of The Fourth Kind, director Olatunde Osunsanmi’s previous effort, and, while I liked Evidence better, there are still many problems plaguing this found-footage movie.

First of all, it’s hard to care when all of the characters dying on screen or potentially in danger are just walking Las Vegas cliches (a dancer, an apprentice magician, wannabe actress, an addict with a big bag of cash and so on….) with no depth at all.

And let’s not even talk about the cops whose investigation does not come close to any kind of legitimate real world police work.

Finally you have a killer with no apparent motive, killing people in the middle of nowhere while everybody (including the killer) keeps on shooting videos.

I have to admit that, for the last complain, most will make more sense by the end of the movie. And I am one of the few who actually did enjoy the final twist and reveal (not too tough to spot, considering the many obvious red herrings the script is throwing at us).

Evidence did not leave such a bad impression on me after all and it is a step in the right direction for director Olatunde Osunsanmi. If you’re a fan of found footage movies you might want to check this movie out. For the others, maybe not…

By The way, there is another movie called Evidence from 2012 and it is a found footage movie as well. It is also a much better movie than this one.

Click Here if you want to watch Evidence Online Now!

My Rating: 5/10

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi

Origin: USA

100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck (2012) Review

July 17, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: In 2010, paranormal investigators tried to film Richard Speck’s ghost at the site of his heinous killing spree. The victims’ families have finally released the footage that documents their last days.

Quick Review: To think that some people (friends from the producers?) dared to compare this movie to Grave Encounters….

Well it definitively tries hard to be, stealing most of the plot and scare tactics that made Grave Encounters somewhat of a hit in the found footage genre.

100 Ghost street is just plain boring, has ridiculous kill scenes (don’t get me started on the rape scene..), and even more ludicrous acting.

I would not recommend this movie to anyone, even fans of found footage films.

My Rating: 3/10

Area 407 Review

June 25, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Survivors of an airplane crash find themselves within the borders of a government testing area and pursued by predators.

My Quick Review: Area 407 was a painful movie to watch, from the beginning to the end.

I just came back from a plane trip myself and the first thing I noticed was how fake the whole beginning of the movie looked like. The one and only crew member, the few passengers; at no point during this first 15mn did it feel like those people were on a real plane flying to somewhere. This immediately removed me from the movie.

Then we have the whole found-footage POV choice to talk about. Of all the found-footage movies I have watched (and I did watch a LOT) this one was the worst in terms of “why the hell is this girl holding her camera for?”. Most of the time there is absolutely no need for her to shoot people, especially when there is some action but she decides to focus on peoples faces and reaction (makes no sense at all). It never felt natural.

The acting/script/dialogue were all horrendous. I believe 90% was improv, and bad ones with silly reactions; people that were very hurt, suddenly healthy and smily in a following scene…

And let’s talk about the monster(s). That nobody points out that it looks like some kind of dinosaur is already ridiculous, but the butt ugly CGI in the last shot really takes the cake.

To sum it up, Area 407 is a crap movie with nothing in it worth spending 90mn of your time (yeah it is even longer than most found footage movies out there).

My Rating: 3/10

Director: Dale Fabrigar, Everette Wallin

Year: 2012

Origin: USA

Atrocious Review

June 15, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Two teenage siblings endure a terrifying experience while investigating a rural legend near their family’s vacation home.

My Short Review: Atrocious is another movie surfing on the success of found footage movies such as Blair Witch, Rec or Paranormal Activity. Blair Witch especially comes to mind when most of the proceedings in Atrocious are being shot at night in a creepy forest.

Nothing surprising here and the script is as thin as cigarette paper. In the hands of a more capable director, Atrocious could have risen to a very respectable entertainment. In the hands of Fernando Barreda Luna though, it’s a different story.

To make a good genre film, the viewer must be maintained in a growing sense of tension that will keep him to the edge of its seat until the final credits. He must as well feel emotionally involved with the characters and their misadventures. To do this, you need two things: a suffocating cinematography spreading doubt and fear, and talented actors to make every emotional step credible.

Unfortunately, in Atrocious none of that is present on the screen. The actors are not conveying any sense of fear and emotion while the cinematography is just bland.
The result is a genre film clearly built to cash in on a lucrative trend. A Movie with a total lack of originality or genuine scares.

My Rating: 4/10

Year: 2010

Director: Fernando Barreda Luna

Origin: Spain