MANIAC (2011) Short Film Review

Directed by: Shia LaBeouf

Starring: Chris Palko, Kid Cudi

I'd heard that Shia LaBeouf had written and directed a few short films but it wasn't until this week that I actually managed to check one of them out. Seeing as MANIAC is about serial killers I thought it would be a good place to start.

MANIAC is a short mockumentary film in which a camera crew follow the exploits of a pair of serial killers as they try to reach their goal of 8 murders each. If that sounds familiar then perhaps you've seen MAN BITES DOG from 1992 which took a similar path although it explored a lot more themes and ended up being a fairly multifaceted black comedy. MANIAC seems to be more of an exercise in style over substance however and although I know you can only fit so much into a 10 minute short I would have preferred if there were a little more here storywise. But then the story isn't really important because as far as I know this short film is just a platform to showcase Kid Cudi and Chris Palko's collaboration on the track Maniac, or something like that. I'm not too familiar with either artist but that's what I understand anyway.

But aside from the wafer thin plot there is plenty to enjoy about this short because visually and technically it is really quite good. Black & white is used effectively as is the color grading and there are a lot of nice shots including the slow opening tracking shot. Even the action shots are followed fairly well and the soundtrack fits the film quite nicely. I did have an issue with the use of CGI blood at one point and there is a fairly questionable scene involving a molotov cocktail that doesn't seem to act like a molotov cocktail really should, but apart from that there are far worse ways to spend 10 minutes of your life.

If you're a fan of Shia, Kid Cudi or Cage then you should probably check this out, and even if you're simply a fan of short film there is enough going on here to hold your attention for the full running time. Even though there's barely a plot and obviously a lot borrowed from MAN BITES DOG, I found this to be an enjoyable short film and if nothing else it looks great. And you can find the full film on Youtube (or below).

LOVELY MOLLY (2012) Review

Directed by: Eduardo Sánchez

Starring: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden

Eduardo Sánchez's only real claim to fame is the fact that he wrote and directed THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing I will leave for you to decide, but personally I thought  that movie was complete crap so obviously I went into LOVELY MOLLY with more than a little trepidation. 

The movie starts off with a short scene which could be called a nod to Sanchez's BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, in the form of a woman crying into a video camera about some no doubt terrible things which we will soon be witness to. After this initial scene blacks out we find our Molly (Lodge) and her husband Tim (Lewis) suddenly awaken from their slumber by the harsh wailing of their house's security alarm. The police soon arrive and do a sweep of the house only to find nothing besides the open back door, which shows no signs of forced entry. The cop offers a no-nonsense reason as to why the door may be open even though Tim is insistent that he locked it before going to bed. Crisis now averted, we are able to be introduced to our main characters. Molly and Tim have just moved into their inherited new home three months earlier after the death of Molly's father. Tim is a truck driver and so is away from home for long stretches at a time, leaving Molly all alone in the new house. During these times when she is by herself she is witness to some strange occurrences around the house which manifest themselves as voices, doors banging, footsteps and all of that kind of haunted house stuff. At the same time this is going on we are treated to some handheld camera work by an unknown person as they spy on neighbours and visit what seems to be some strange underground shrine. One day Tim comes home to find Molly sitting naked on the bed. She utters the words "He's alive" and it's from here on in that things start to get more strange and more violent.

LOVELY MOLLY is really quite a multi-layered film, but perhaps this is where its biggest problems lie. When we first realize that something is very wrong with Molly it isn't obvious exactly what is wrong. Is it really some supernatural entity? Is she being possessed? Why can't Tim see the things she sees? Are these just hallucinations brought on by her drug use? Is she just a straight up fucking nutcase? Even by the time the credits roll these are still mostly unanswered questions. I'm by no means against movies which leave you with unanswered questions, but here I felt that there were just too many and the movie answered hardly a single one.

The other big problem for me was just how bizarrely and unrealistically the characters in LOVELY MOLLY react to the things going on around them. Obviously Molly's actions can be explained away with the fact that she's crazy or possessed or whatever, but what of the others? Tim find himself violently assaulted by his wife before she runs off into the woods, shortly thereafter Molly's sister Hanna (Holden) arrives and somehow tries to rationalize Molly's behaviour and talks Tim out of calling the police. I don't know about you, but if my wife tried to bite my fucking mouth off I would be calling the cops pronto.
And when weird shit is going down in the house while Molly is home alone, why doesn't she go stay with her sister like she is asked to? And why does Tim seem content to leave her alone after finding her naked and incoherent in the bedroom? I know most horror movies are guilty of lacking logic, but really this is a bit too ridiculous.

On a positive note Gretchen Lodge does give a great performance as Molly and there is some nice camera work, but this is far from enough to outweigh the negatives of the movie. 

V/H/S (2012) Review

Directed by: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard, Radio Silence

Starring: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard

I love a good horror anthology, and it's been quite a while since I've seen one so I was pretty damn excited when I finally got a chance to check out V/H/S. With an impressive list of directors including Ti West, Adam Wingard and the collective Radio Silence, V/H/S was bound to be impressive. At least I hoped so.

V/H/S is broken up into 6 segments, 5 of which make up the bulk of the anthology while the 6th binds them all together. The list of segments is as follows:

'Amateur Night' - David Brucker
'Second Honeymoon' - Ti West

'Tuesday the 17th' - Glenn McQuaid

'The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger' - Joe Swanberg

'10/31/98' - Radio Silence

All of these 5 segments feature within the 6th (Adam Wingard's 'Tape 56') as footage compiled on separate VHS tapes. Tape 56 shows a group of misfits who have been hired by an undisclosed third party, to break into a home and steal a certain VHS tape. When they arrive however they find more than they expected. A dead body, a bank of television sets and dozens of VHS tapes which they will need to sort through in order to find what they are looking for.

I won't go into each individual segment very deeply however I will say that they are quite varied in content (which is great) and as with every anthology some segments are better than others. My personal favorites were 'Amateur Night', 'The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger' and '10/31/98' but as for the other two segments and even 'Tape 56' in which they are all wrapped up, I thought they were much weaker. 

'Tuesday the 17th' (as you may have guessed) pays homage to FRIDAY THE 13TH with four friends who travel to a lake where a number of murders have taken place. 

'Second Honeymoon' follows a couple on a road trip across America as they see the sights until one night they have a mysterious visitor at the door of their hotel room. 

I was particularly disappointed with the latter because Ti West did such a great job with THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL but here he has created something which just basically seems (to me at least) pointless. The same can be said for the former segment, they both have no real meat on their bones. They just kind of happen and didn't leave me with any impression at all.

Fortunately the offerings from Bruckner, Swanberg and Radio Silence made up for the weaker segments, and I found all three of them to be original, surprising and entertaining. Overall there is a nice mix of tension, supernatural stuff, gore and creatures. Basically something for everybody.

I really liked the whole concept of V/H/S and I thought that it was a very interesting idea to put found footage inside a found footage movie. But is that too much found footage? At around 2 hours long V/H/S is made up entirely using this POV style and by the end of it I was honestly over it. If they had halved the film's length it probably would have been alright but 2 hours was just too much for me. Adding in some webcam style in Swanberg's segment almost helped to break this up but not quite. And (although it's probably already obvious) if you're not a big fan of this shaky style of filming then you definitely will not like V/H/S. The filming in 'Amateur Night' alone is some of the most wobbly, disorienting, all over the place filming I have ever seen.
I can enjoy a good found footage film if it adds to the atmosphere or the story, but 2 hours was just too much for me. Add to that the fact that the segments are a mixed bag of good and bad, and V/H/S turned out to be an above average anthology, but ultimately still a disappointment.

REC 3: GENESIS (2012) Review

Directed by: Paco Plaza

Starring: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin, Javier Botet

One thing you need to know before you decide to watch REC 3 is that it is very, very different from the previous two films. I don't consider this a spoiler, I consider it important information because you need to realize that what you're going to see isn't a simple rehash of the first two movies. I've kept myself from reading any reviews so far but I have heard a lot of people complaining about this movie, and most of those complaints seem to be about how different it is. If you really want to watch a franchise where the same movie is rewritten over and over there are plenty of them out there. 

Clara (Dolera) and Koldo (Martin) are celebrating their wedding day. Surrounded by friends and family it will be the happiest day of their lives. Or will it? Of course not, the movie would be pointless if things didn't go horribly wrong. After character introductions, the swapping of vows, some singing, dancing and drunken relatives, the action begins. The outbreak first seen in REC's apartment building is brought out of the dark and into the daylight. During the chaos Clara and Koldo are separated and find themselves fighting for their lives. Will they find each other before it's too late?

Being a wedding, this is the perfect setting for some handheld camera action. But in stark contrast to the previous entries the POV angle is soon discarded and replaced with a more normal style of filming which makes up the majority of the movie. The setting is for the most part the polar opposite of the dark, claustrophobic apartment building seen in the first two REC films. Here we are treated to brightly lit, open spaces with loads of people before darkness eventually falls and we find ourselves in familiar territory.

There's so much more I want to say but I don't want to spoil things for anybody. One thing I will say however is that GENESIS is a slower paced, more emotionally and even humorously charged kind of horror film. Which is not a bad thing by any means. The acting is good and the two leads do a great job. Leticia Dolera definitely stole the show though. Of course the movie does have its negative points too. The main one of these I thought was the loss of some seemingly key characters early on with little explanation.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that REC 3 takes place before and during the events of the first film, so don't expect a continuation of the original story so much as a fresh perspective on the outbreak. A lot of people are going to hate this movie and a lot are going to love it, I don't see there being any middle ground. Personally I fall into the latter category. I fucking loved it.
If you are interested in seeing the progression of the original story then you'll have to wait until REC 4: APOCALYPSE is released.

CHRONICLE (2012) Review

Directed by: Josh Trank

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan

I have to be honest and say that before I saw CHRONICLE I was expecting a pretty mediocre effort, especially since this was director Josh Trank's feature length debut and the lead actors are basically unknowns. Fortunately however I was pleasantly surprised and this movie turned out to be one of the best of the year so far.

Andrew (DeHaan), Matt (Russell) and Steve (Jordan) are three friends who stumble upon some strange object which imbues them with superpowers. They find themselves able to make things float around the room, move objects and even fly high into the sky. Unlike most movies where people find themselves with strange superpowers though, these three friends don't decide to wear latex and capes and go about fighting crime and helping people, instead they do exactly what I would probably do. They use their powers for fun. Freaking people out by making items fly off the shelves in a supermarket, or even playing a game of football high up in the clouds, these are the kinds of things you would expect young me like these to do. But eventually these powers lead to a tragic incident and so the trio set some rules regarding their powers.
But before too long Andrew's powers begin to take him over and he is consumed with anger and grows aggressive. Things go from bad to worse until his powers are completely out of control.

The found footage element is introduced via Andrew who films his life and through these videos we find out that he is essentially an outcast and doesn't have a great life, with an abusive father and a mother dying of cancer. After he receives these mysterious powers he uses them to move the camera around and this is how the movie manages to achieve some great cinematography while still keeping the found footage feel.
The writing in CHRONICLE is amazingly well done, and the characters are likeable (for the most part), realistic and easy to relate to, with a few exceptions of course. The way the three main characters interact is believable and you probably know somebody who is similar to at least one of these characters. A big exception here though is Andrew's dad who I thought to be a bit over the top.
There are some great effects here and even though there is a whole lot of CGI and green screen work I actually didn't find it too bad at all. The flying movements seem a bit awkward at first but before long you don't even notice. 

I'm a pretty big fan of the found footage genre even though for the most part it seems to be a bit of a gimmick, but here it actually worked quite well. The way the camera moves around by its own volition is great. It's nice and smooth and not the usual jerky shooting you usually find in the found footage films.
And another surprising aspect of the film is just how well it has managed to do on a rather limited budget compared to other movies of a similar quality.

AREA 407 (2012) Review

Directed by: Dale Fabrigar, Everette Wallin

Starring: Abigail Schrader, Samantha Lester, Melanie Lyons

After watching APARTMENT 143 recently I thought I was completely over these found footage type films. I had to give this one a chance though because it promised something new, in the form of dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs. Could this finally be the movie to restore my faith in the found footage genre? Well it turned out to be a little better than I had expected, but a lot worse than I'd hoped.

Two sisters are boarding a plane from New York to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. A camera (in this case a Canon DSLR with uncharacteristically good audio quality) is used to introduce them and then the rest of the key characters as they make their way down the aisle to their assigned seats. For some reason all of the passengers (well except for one) seem to be a little too happy. In my experience it seems pretty hard to find a happy passenger on a plane, but whatever. The younger sister Trish (Schrader) who is controlling the camera seems to be hell-bent on annoying as many people as she can, waving the camera around in their faces and asking a barrage of questions. One of the passengers seated directly behind them turns out to be a photojournalist. What a coincidence! So obviously he has a whole bag full of camera equipment and lights etc.

After the passengers count down to midnight (gee this is a long flight) the plane hits turbulence and finally crash lands.

The survivors gather together and try to figure out what to do next. When no rescue crew shows up and they start hearing inhuman noises out in the darkness, they realize that something is very wrong.

I didn't realize this while watching the movie, but according to its IMDb page AREA 407 was filmed in only 5 days and all of the actors' dialogue was ad-libbed. If this is true then I have to give props to the actors because most of the dialogue did seem pretty genuine and realistic even if it wasn't very consistent.

The low budget showed in two big ways. Firstly is the fact that it was shot found footage style, which is fine. But the other way it showed was in the creature effects, even though you didn't really see a lot of them. What you do see though is pretty lame but at least (for the most part) they didn't use any CGI.

Most of the film post-crash is composed of the dwindling survivors running around in the dark, screaming and arguing a lot. The argument scenes where everybody is trying to yell over the top of everybody else got on my nerves a bit, but I guess it's realistic as you would probably find it extremely difficult to remain calm in such a situation.

Thankfully however, there was enough action and tension to help counter these negative aspects at least a little. And the ending was actually really good, if not a little predictable All in all it was a nice movie with a good, original concept but it just came up a little short in most departments. Worth seeing if you're a found footage nut, but otherwise I probably wouldn't bother. I have to give kudos to the film-makers for trying something new within the sub-genre but I don't think I'll be revisiting this one again.

APARTMENT 143 (2012) Review

Directed by: Carles Torrens

Starring: Kai Lennox, Michael O'Keefe, Rick Gonzalez

By now I'm really starting to get fed up with all of the disappointing found footage/POV horror flicks which seem to be released every other week. After noticing that all of the reviews on its IMDb page were positive however, I decided that I would give APARTMENT 143 the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully this is the last time  I make that mistake.

As most found footage films this one starts off suddenly without any opening credits or titles. A handheld camera helps to introduce a trio of paranormal investigators in a van on their way to an apparently haunted apartment. When they arrive they talk to the three inhabitants, father Alan (Lennox) and his son and daughter. They are told that strange occurrences have been happening in the apartment and  actually started to happen in the house the three lived in before they moved to said apartment. Alan talks about his late wife who was killed in a car accident and his young son tells the investigators that he has actually spoken to his dead mother. The trio set up their fancy equipment and settle in to wait for some strange happenings. We are then treated to (or maybe subjected to) pretty much every cliché you've ever seen in a paranormal flick. Doors slam closed on their own, lights flicker, items fly around the rooms, bed sheets are tugged at by invisible hands, ghostly figures appear in the background of photographs and so on.

Most of these events are captured and followed through the use of mounted cameras in a very PARANORMAL ACTIVITY style display. This footage is supplemented with shaky handheld camera footage and a soundtrack of the usual creaks, groans, screams and loud noises.

The investigators are accompanied by all manner of hi-tech equipment (one machine is even pixelated as though it's top secret or illegal), the functions of which are explained by very thin and vague descriptions that don't really explain much at all. 

The actors seem to do a good enough job but the characters are all completely unlikeable. The father is a spineless wimp, his daughter is a little bitch and the investigators grill the poor man like he's committed some kind of crime. I spent half the movie hoping they would just die already.

The movie takes it's time developing the characters but I felt that it delved a little too deeply into the relationship between father and daughter. These paranormal investigators (laughably calling themselves 'scientists') seem to think that they're counsellors or psychologists.

By the time the credits showed up I felt like I had just watched another tired PA rehash that brought absolutely nothing new to the table. It relied too heavily on cheap jump-scares and clichés and ended up being a below average ghost flick. I recommend you give this one a miss.

THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING (2011) Review

Directed by: Geoff Meed

Starring: Jason Williams, Amy Van Horne, Devin Clark

I am nowhere near deluded enough to expect anything good from The Asylum. Ever. I get the idea of 'mockbusters' and understand that they're not meant to be cinematic masterpieces, but even I didn't think that they could produce something this terrible. I'd like to say that this is low even for their standards but then again The Asylum don’t seem to have any standards. 

THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING begins with handheld footage of a horny young couple deciding to take themselves on an unauthorized tour of the infamous Amityville house. Once inside things start to get hot and heavy before they finally meet a bloody off-camera death.

Flash forward and we meet the Benson family who have just bought the Amityville house and are beginning to move in. They’re aware of the house’s grisly past but apparently it was all they could afford. One of the removalists has a fatal accident and from then on the ‘horror’ escalates. Eventually after a few strange happenings have occurred the father gets the idea of installing video cameras around the house and the movie starts to journey deep into PARANORMAL ACTIVITY territory. One of the cameras watches on as a door mysteriously opens by itself (gasp!) and the security alarm goes off. And that’s about as scary (if you can even call that scary) as the movie gets. Almost all of the deaths happen off-camera, and at the moments when something is about to happen the video jumps or blacks out and we only get quick flashes in between.

I honestly cannot think of one aspect of this movie that wasn't crap. The writing was crap, the effects were crap, the acting was crap and all of the characters were completely unlikeable. I couldn't wait for them all to die. The film even uses that tired old trick of trying to persuade viewers that what they’re seeing is ‘real footage’. Do people even fall for that anymore? Any moron can check the IMDb page and clearly see that the characters in the film are played by actors, and incompetent ones at that.

By the time it was all over I felt relieved but also disgusted at myself for actually sitting through the entire movie. I know you always hear the phrase ‘worst movie ever’ thrown around a lot, but this has to be a strong contender. It is definitely the worst movie I've seen in a long time. In fact I'm not even going to waste any more time on this review. All you need to know is that this movie is shit. Stay away.

? (QUESTION MARK) (2012) Review

Directed by: Yash Dave, Allison Patel

Starring: Yaman Chatwal, Varun Thakur, Manvi Gagru, Sonam Mukherjee

Another found footage horror film? I have to say that I am actually beginning to get as tired of them as I have become of zombie movies. On the other hand though this is a found footage horror film from India, and as I've never ever seen an Indian horror movie in my life I thought I'd give this one the benefit of the doubt and see what kind of fresh ideas it can bring to the table. I was also intrigued by the enigmatic title which is simply the question mark symbol.

The plot is extremely simple and generic. Basically a group of students arranged a trip to an isolated cabin in the mountains where they planned to make a film as part of a college project. After they arrived some crazy shit started to happen for no apparent reason and the only evidence recovered was this footage found on a video camera. That's really all there is to it.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to see what fresh ideas the filmmakers could bring to the table. The answer to that is absolutely nothing. ? is pretty much a mashup of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY along with a whole array of other found footage films. It doesn't have an original bone in its body. There is (of course) plenty of shaky camera work and plenty of night vision footage, furniture being moved, people being dragged off by some unseen force and lots of screaming, yelling and crying.
There is no explanation as to why all of this is happening. Sometimes the no explanation angle works in horror movies, but not here. Is the cabin haunted? If so, why? Was it built on an ancient Indian burial ground?
There are so many unanswered questions. Maybe that's why they decided to title the film ?

To make things worse, almost every cliche imaginable is crammed in here. A long drive to an isolated cabin in the woods, ghost stories over a campfire, young people getting drunk, people crying with their face right up in the camera lens, I could go on. And of course the whole movie is crafted in a way to try and convince the audience that the footage is real. There are no credits at the end, the movie just ends abruptly and instead of "Directed by..." we get a lame "Footage compiled by..." Does that kind of crap actually work anymore? Do the filmmakers actually think that their audience could be that stupid?

This movie has almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. In fact the only positive thing I can say is that the acting was decent and for the most part realistic. But that is nowhere near enough to make up for everything else which sucked. I feel extremely grateful that I caught the Youtube premiere of ? so I didn't waste any of my money on it.

THE DEVIL INSIDE (2012) Review

Directed by: William Brent Bell

Starring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth

THE DEVIL INSIDE just hit theatres here in Australia on March 1st and despite all of the negative feedback I've heard about it (literally everything I've heard about it has been negative) and the fact that it only has a 5% rating on RottenTomatoes I decided to watch it anyway.

Maria Rossi apparently killed three people in 1989 while an exorcism was being performed on her. 20 years later her daughter Isabella (Andrade) is on a mission to discover just what happened to her mother. She travels to a hospital for the criminally insane in Rome where Maria has been locked away to find out whether her mother really is just mentally ill or possessed by a demon. After visiting a school of exorcism she recruits two young priests (Quarterman & Helmuth) to try and prove that Maria is possessed and also to try and help her through unauthorized exorcisms and a mix of science and religion.

The film begins with a 911 call from Maria, confessing to the murder of three people, then we are shown through the crime scene via handheld camera as the police talk about the victims. Maria is tried in court but ultimately exempted on the grounds of insanity and is shipped away for some unknown reason to a mental hospital in Rome. The film then leaps forwards 20 years to daughter Isabella announcing that she wants to travel to Italy to find out what happened to her mother, and she wants to bring along cameraman Michael to film it all. She arrives in Rome where we are treated to lots of shaky camerawork and introduced to two priests. They decide to bring Isabella along to an actual exorcism. The exorcism scenes are done very well and have a certain look of realism about them, but scary? Not at all. Maybe a little creepy with the body contortions and such but if you've ever seen any other exorcism movie then this will be no surprise. We also get to see all of the other demonic possession hallmarks that are also shown in every other exorcism film ever made such as speaking in tongues, strange voices and super strength. However, none of these are shown with an effectiveness even close to something like say THE EXORCIST.

The inclusion of science alongside religion is a rather unique one, but whenever I hear both science and religion uttered in the same breath it makes me laugh. The two just don't mix.

Technically the movie is just what you'd expect from the mockumentary / found-footage sub-genre with plenty of shaky camerawork, grainy security camera footage etc. It is also exactly what you'd expect from any movie in the exorcism sub-genre with priests, bible passages, people being thrown across the room etc.

Apart from the lame inclusion of science there is absolutely nothing new here. There was maybe one standout scene for me (I won't say which) but in general I found it to be boring, bland and unoriginal. And definitely not scary. The acting leaves a lot to be desired too, especially in the case of Fernanda Andrade.

And I guess I should mention the controversial ending too, the part everybody seems to be complaining about. I actually though it was fitting and since it is a found-footage film I also found the ending to be realistic. It leaves questions unanswered but sometimes that's a good thing.

In summary I'd say it's definitely not a movie I plan on watching again, but it's also not one that I regret watching either. I've seen a few movies which have had me wanting my money back but this is not quite that terrible. Close, but not quite.

SKEW (2011) Review

Directed by: Sevé Schelenz

Starring: Rob Scattergood, Amber Lewis, Richard Olak

Reviewing an independent film is always a little different from reviewing a big budget Hollywood film. I usually tend to be a little lenient and take into consideration all of the financial and time constraints etc. But at the same time  I try not to be too soft, because since indie filmmakers are usually just starting out I think it's important that they are made aware of any weak points in their films which can be improved upon. These days anybody with a video camera and a bunch of friends can make their own film. The majority are absolute shit, but every now and then you stumble upon one which is just as entertaining and clever as any big budget blockbuster. After watching SKEW I think I can honestly say that it falls firmly in the second category.

SKEW is an independent psychological horror film from Canadian director Sevé Schelenz and it is his feature length directorial debut. It is shot in a POV / found-footage style and concerns three friends who on a road trip which turns bad. I know that found footage type movies have been popping up all over the place over the last few years and a lot of people are probably sick of them, but don't let that put you off. This entire movie is shown through the lens of a handheld camera but rather than just being a portal into the film, the video camera is actually an integral part of the storyline.


Simon, Eva and Richard are three friends who embark on what is apparently a long-awaited road trip. Richard (Olak) and Eva (Lewis) are obviously in a relationship while Simon (Scattergood) seems to be the third wheel as his girlfriend has refused to come on the trip with them. This is our first hint that there is trouble brewing. The trio travel the roads and highways, stopping at offbeat tourist attractions like the 'world's biggest chair' and 'world's biggest Viking head' and so on. Tho whole time Simon is videotaping absolutely everything. It turns out that Simon has a very personal reason for documenting everything but I'll leave that for you to find out yourself.  His constant filming however starts to get on Richard and Eva's nerves and things begin to get tense between the three friends. Things escalate even more when Simon realizes a terrible and fatal truth about the video camera. Simon's grip on reality seems to be slipping and the friends' relationship begins to decay further until finally ending in the brutal and shocking conclusion.


POV / found footage films have been done to death in recent years. Paranormal Activity, REC, Cloverfield, Apollo 18, The Devil Inside are just a few and there are a ton more in the pipeline. An interesting fact about SKEW though is that it was filmed in 2005, so it actually predates all of the movies I've just mentioned. While it's still not one of the originals of this sub-genre, at least it cannot be accused of trying to capitalize on the recent success of movies like PA and The Devil Inside. And it's a very original spin on the tired sub-genre. 
The acting is great, especially for a bunch of amateurs with hardly any other credits on their resumes. At times it was a little awkward but it's not distracting or annoying, and it definitely didn't detract from the movie overall.  The effects both practical and CGI are used sparingly and to good effect, although they do display the small budget fairly clearly.  As a horror film SKEW isn't really as scary as it is unsettling. There are only a couple of cheap jump-scares which are effective but as it is a psychological horror the movie does depend mostly on atmosphere and tension, both of which it does well.


All in all SKEW is a very entertaining and engaging film. It does have its flaws which include the beginning dragging on a bit slow, some awkward acting, a few scenes going on perhaps a little longer than they should and less than perfect effects but in the end most of these are easy to overlook, especially after you see the final scenes and ambiguous ending. SKEW is definitely worth your time.

THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (2007) Review

Directed by: John Erick Dowdle

Starring: Stacy Chbosky, Ben Messmer, Samantha Robson

I am usually a fan of low budget found-footage films and mockumentaries. But of course there are always exceptions (Blair Witch & Paranormal Activity come to mind) and THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES is one of those exceptions.

A mockumentary about a one of a kind serial killer known only as the 'Water Street Butcher', the film starts by telling us about the boxes of VHS tapes which were found in an abandoned house. These particular tapes contained scenes of torture and murder and were apparently filmed by a notorious serial killer known only as the 'Water Street Butcher'. The movie then continues to chronicle the Butcher's crimes and the subsequent police investigation. It does this by introducing us to a whole slew of characters, from the family members of victims to police officers, FBI agents, experts, news reporters, and the list goes on. This is where I first had issues. 

These fake documentaries are supposed to look as realistic as possible, otherwise there really would be no point to display them in this type of format. And since the bulk of the movie is made up of interviews with people, it would make sense that for the movie to seem real these people should be believable, right?

Well that's where the movie loses a lot of points. Not only does it have way too many characters, but the acting (or over-acting) is horrible. I was not convinced at all.
While on the subject of realism though, I do have to admit that there were a couple of clever devices used to make parts of the story seem factual. 

First of all is the fact that Poughkeepsie actually had it's very own serial killer in the 90s named Kendall Francois (A lot of people seem to think that this movie is based on his crimes, but if you do a little research there aren't really a lot of similarities between the two) who was linked to the deaths of at least 8 women.

Second is the use of real locations. Not only is Poughkeepsie a real town in NY, but it really does have a Water Street and a Dutchess Ave. During the film you will notice that a signpost depicting the intersection of these two streets is shown more than once.

And thirdly there is the reason why the Water Street Butcher didn't make headlines around the world. The excuse used is the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, which is perfect if you think about it. That event overshadowed any other news event at the same time.

But even these clever devices weren't enough to save the movie. Not only was the acting horrible, and the characters too numerous, but some of the scenes involving 'found-footage' went from being slightly disturbing to being just plain ridiculous. And asking an audience to believe that a serial killer is actually some sort of mastermind genius who can not only evade the police for so long, but actually frame a police officer? 

The premise is a good one, and I think that if it was all simplified a little it might have been better. As it stands though, it's definitely one of the weaker entries into the found-footage / mockumentary subgenre.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (2011) Review

Directed by: Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman

Starring: Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown

Where do I even begin? I guess first I should say that I hated the first two movies in this franchise. So why did I watch the third? Well I really don't know, maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. But I can honestly say that I really wish I hadn't seen this film.

If you've seen PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 1 and/or 2 then you will know exactly what to expect from this third offering.

The movie is shown via VHS footage which was taken in 1988. It centers on Katie and Kristi when they were obviously much younger. As you might expect, strange things start happening around the house and the girls' stepfather Dennis decides that he is going to film EVERYTHING. So it's lucky that his job just so happens to be filming weddings and he conveniently has an assload of video equipment. Cameras are set up in the girls' bedroom and various other rooms in the house and finally they catch some weird shit on film. But of course their mother thinks that this is all ridiculous and doesn't even want to watch any footage, even though Katie and Kristi are obviously scared shitless. Things get worse, they take a trip to the grandmother's house and things continue to get worse.

It's the same setup as the first two films and it is comprised of the same cheap scares and boring, repetitive camera shots. I don't know about you, but after seeing a strange shadow or a light fitting fall out of the ceiling for the millionth time I kind of get over it. The movie is around 90 minutes long and nothing really happens for the first hour or so. Then all of a sudden all of the exciting shit is crammed into the last half hour. And it's not even that exciting. In fact all of the footage that you may have seen in the trailers, isn't even in the actual movie!

I really can't be bothered writing anything else about PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 because it is complete and utter crap. In fact I went and watched it with my fiance and we both almost fell asleep. Not even kidding. Do yourself a favour and stay away.

APOLLO 18 (2011) Review

I only just watched this a few days ago and I have to confess I liked it a lot. I know it's been getting a lot of negative reviews, and it's current score on Rotten Tomatoes is only 22%. But I'm a sucker for found footage films (well most of them) and I thought the format was perfect for this movie.

The film insists that after the last manned flight to the moon in 1972 there was another flight, a secret trip funded by the US Department of Defence. A trio of Astronauts were sent to install devices which would be used to spy on the Russians. But when they got there they uncovered a terrible secret. A Russian lander, the remains of a Cosmonaut and a deadly extra-terrestrial life form.

It's all bullshit of course, but the film's website claims it all to be true and that's the only way these found footage films really work. They need to seem real. So whether or not you believe in this conspiracy may just gauge how much you will enjoy watching the film.
I thought the best aspect of APOLLO 18 was the atmosphere it creates. The footage is supposedly from the 70s and was meant to be filmed on the moon, so obviously it isn't going to be great quality. I thought it looked and sounded great, and is probably as close as you could get to reproducing actual lunar footage. And the cameras don't seem out of place at all like they do in some of these found footage movies, because if you're going to the moon you're obviously going to want it on film.
I was disappointed that it didn't feel as tense as I thought it would, and there are plenty of opportunities for frightening moments that could have been better utilized. Even still, you can feel the panic as the Astronauts come under attack, and there is a real sense of hopelessness when they discover that the DOD don't intend to bring them back to earth.
I know that there was a lot of viral marketing before this movie hit theatres, and I was expecting to see a terrifying horror masterpiece. It was far from terrifying and far from being a masterpiece but I still enjoyed it immensely. It felt like more could have been done, but I'd still recommend seeing it at least once.

ATROCIOUS (2011) Review

Directed by: Fernando Barreda Luna

Starring: Cristian Valencia, Clara Moraleda, Chus Pereiro

Another found-footage horror in the vein of Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, REC etc. So if you don't enjoy the prospect of shaky camera work and sometimes dodgy audio and video, then you might want to stay away from this one. If you do enjoy the aforementioned films, then go ahead and watch this and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Like the majority of these handheld / found-footage movies, ATROCIOUS has been made to seem as though it is based on real events. A family in Spain was supposedly found brutally murdered in strange circumstances, and a pair of video cameras were found with around 37 hours of footage on them. Of course none of this really happened, but it does make for a good story.

Cristian and July are siblings and as they mention at the start of the movie, they investigate paranormal phenomena. Their parents are taking them, along with their younger brother Jose to a house they own in Citges for a week long vacation. The children aren't too excited, but at least this will give them an opportunity to investigate a local legend. A young woman went missing in the Garraf woods behind the house where Cristian and July will be staying. The legend goes that if you get lost in the woods, the ghost of the missing woman will show you the way out. When they arrive at the house, the brother and sister discover a large gate which leads to a huge hedge maze, which forms a part of the Garraf woods. They slip through the gate and begin filming, but don't find anything interesting so they head back to the house.

The next day things begin to get strange when their dog goes missing. Cristian and July once more explore the maze and find a trail of blood. This leads them to a well, at the bottom of which lies their dead dog. Someone or something has killed it before dumping it down the well. The kids are pretty freaked out by now, but decide not to tell their mother or Jose until the morning.

But later that night their mother bursts into their room and tells them that Jose is missing. They assume that he has gone looking for the dog, and so they all run into the maze in the dead of night and of course they end up getting separated. It's not until Cristian finds his sister tied up and bleeding that he realizes that things are starting to get really fucked up and dangerous. But the worst is yet to come.

I really enjoyed this. I would much rather watch ATROCIOUS than a lot of other found-footage films that are out. I thought it was a hell of a lot more entertaining than Paranormal Activity, but not quite as much as REC. In fact I would probably put it on par with something like The Tunnel. Although the way it was made did make it seem a whole lot more realistic than either of these films. The acting was perfect, from the siblings' playful first trip through the maze to Cristian's frightened whimpering when he is lost and alone in the darkness. The camera work was at times very shaky (as was the audio), but that only helped to add to the realism. I think the best part of the film was the way it tries to distract you from what is really happening. It fooled me. Right up to the time it ended I had no idea what was going to happen, and the final scenes were a real unexpected shock. ATROCIOUS is a very accomplished entry in the found-footage genre and is definitely worth checking out.

And I should probably mention that the film's spoken language is Spanish, so if you don't like dealing with subtitles then you are really missing out.