home video

home video is a found footage movie that combines video footage of the diaz family moving into their new home in the mountains with documentary-style interviews filmed after the family went missing. it becomes clear early on that the diaz family didn't make it through the first night in their new home and the film attempts to uncover the truth about what happened to them.

while it all sounds simple enough, co-writer/director emmanuel giorgio sandoval and his fellow writers zaidal obagi and robert a. trezza attempt something rather complex and impressive with the narrative for this film. essentially this is a murder mystery, except we don't see the murder until the end of the film. the video footage alone would not make for a particularly compelling story but the interviews add layers of intrigue to everything we see on camera. suddenly suspects begin to emerge and even the most innocent of exchanges between family members take on a air of underlying menace. the interviews essentially point the audience to the subtext, which in a narratively shot film would be a huge mistake but here it really works.

there is also a possible supernatural element, which fits in quite nicely because you can take it however you want. ultimately, the truth is left for the audience to determine and there is just enough evidence to suggest paranormal forces are responsible as there is to point to a human perpetrator. this idea of the audience as detective is another factor that really makes home video work, particularly when combined with the fact that it's not until the final minutes that we really begin to get a sense of what may have happened to the family.

performance-wise the actors are all very convincing, but special mention has to go to steve jacques who plays bruce, the dad in the family. as the character who literally drives the action in the beginning and takes charge when the family arrive at the house, jacques has to dominate every scene that he's in and he does a great job in this respect. it has to be said that commitment to realism overall in home video is very impressive, although for me it lost a little of its edge in the final minutes. there was something in the way that the deaths were filmed that felt somehow forced compared to the naturalism of the rest of the film, but that could be down to the dramatic change of pace in the third act.

overall, this is a really accomplished found footage horror movie that attempts something rather bold and different in the way it chooses to tell its story. i can see the ending dividing viewers, but if you don't mind doing a bit of your own thinking when watching a film then this is for you.

if you are interested in seeing home video, it's available right now via the streaming service at foundfootagecritic.com. click here to go directly to the page where you can rent the film.

interview with michael steinberg, founder of foundfootagecritic.com

part of what originally inspired me to start the #foundfootageblogathon was discovering the website foundfootagecritic.com, which currently lists over 450 titles in its database.

it was through this database that i discovered many of the films i reviewed for this blog, so i thought there could be no better way to round off the #foundfootageblogathon than by interviewing the founder of foundfootagecritic.com, michael steinberg. michael clearly has much more knowledge on the subject than i do so it was really interesting to get his thoughts on the found footage format and hear about his favourite films. here's the interview -

when did you first become interested in found footage films?

The first found footage film I had the privilege of seeing was Blair Witch, which I caught in the theater during its initial theatrical release. Since then, I’ve always had an affinity for the genre, gravitating towards like-minded fictional films.

how did your website found footage critic develop?

A little over a year ago I was scouring the Internet for found footage film titles and came up surprisingly short. Most of the sites that I discovered were nothing more than blog articles listing the author’s “top-10” found footage films for different categories. When it came down to it, all of the sites I came across contained the same 20 or 30 found footage films. This was the defining moment when I decided to create a definitive online resource and community for found footage film fans to learn more about the genre they love so much.

how do you find new films for the website?

When I first started this endeavor, I searched the Internet for titles and developed a master spreadsheet containing my findings. Before entering the titles into Found Footage Critic, I carefully scrutinized each film, making sure it really fell in the realm of found footage. The site contains a  concise definition for found footage which all films are measured against:

http://foundfootagecritic.com/found-footage-film-genre/

My original search for films yielded approximately 70-90 titles, and at the time I was sure there couldn’t be that many more. Over the months that followed, that list incrementally grew to over 800 films! A few hundred of those 800 titles failed to meet my criteria for “found footage,” and were excluded from the site. If we remove the 470 films currently covered by FoundFootageCritic.com, that leaves about 150 titles remaining to be vetted and entered into the site along with new titles that surface on a weekly basis.

The popularity of Found Footage Critic has been growing rapidly within the horror film industry and global fan-base with each passing month.  The site’s evolution has reached the point where filmmakers proactively approach us on a weekly basis with new found footage titles that are in development and screeners for review – eliminating much of the need to excavate the Internet for new titles. And of course, every now and then fans come to us with new titles they’ve come across that we may have overlooked.

is there anything in particular that you like about the found footage format? e.g. is there anything that filmmakers can do more effectively in a found footage film than in a narratively shot film?

Although I know I’m watching works of fiction, for me, the draw of found footage films is the possibility that what I’m watching may have actually taken place. There’s something about that gritty realism that draws me into the story.

there are a few found footage cliches that i really can't stand, like when the characters say 'why are you still filming this?' more than once. are there any cliches that you see found footage filmmakers including over and over again?

The film reviews on Found Footage Critic are structured to measure and rate each film by the technical correctness of its found footage. The “technical” factors we examine include: found footage purity, filming reason, cinematography, and acting. These are explained in greater detail on our site.

Some of the more common tropes used by filmmakers that hurt the technical correctness of found footage include: the infinite battery life; adding extensive scenes where the characters argue amongst each other to extend the film to “feature length”; adding the camera user interface (battery icons, etc.) that don’t record into the film; inclusion of incidental music; outdoor audio that’s too clean because the character’s are equipped with personal microphones; and unrealistic cinematography.  These tropes are further defined on our site here:

http://foundfootagecritic.com/found-footage-films-rating-criteria/

what are your personal favourite found footage movies?

The McPherson Tape and Unaware are two of my favorite films, and I’m discovering “new” favorites every day. Every found footage film we come across is unique in its own right and has something special that contributes to the genre.

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thanks very much to michael steinberg for agreeing to be interviewed for my blog. you should definitely check out foundfootagecritic.com, it's an excellent resource and a fantastic way to find new titles. in addition, michael has just recently added a streaming service to the site, as explained here -

NEW YORK, New York – February 22, 2016 – Found Footage Critic today announced the launch of a new online movie rental streaming service dedicated to feature length found footage horror films. The new service is integrated in FoundFootageCritic.com, so visitors browsing found footage films can rent and watch films without leaving the site.

Found Footage Critic is now calling out to filmmakers to submit their feature length found footage films for inclusion in the new service, and is offering filmmakers non-exclusive licensing agreements and a share of the rental fees.

For its launch, Found Footage Critic is offering seven found footage titles from the United States, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, and is currently in negotiations with filmmakers and distributors for additional titles in the coming days/weeks.

The initial list of titles for 24-hour rental include a new found footage horror release from the United States, Home Video (2016); the acclaimed Hungarian found footage horror thriller Bodom (2014), and five films from UK director Paul TT Easter, most notably Black Shuck (2012) and U Mugs (2012).

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i plan to check out some of the films available to stream on foundfootagecritic.com over the next few weeks and will post my thoughts here. i'll also be posting a round-up of my thoughts on the found footage format some point very soon.

the found footage blogathon is just about finished, but there's a full list of the films i watched with links to reviews here.

delivery - the beast within

in hindsight i think delivery - the beast within is kind of an odd choice for the final film of my found footage blogathon, but i was putting it off because to be honest i find the whole idea of childbirth fucking terrifying. this film did nothing to allay those fears.

so it's about this couple, kyle and rachel, and they're having a baby and they agree to allow a documentary crew to film the process for a reality show. however, as the pregnancy advances the couple are plagued by strange incidents around the house and rachel begins to suspect there may be something seriously wrong with her unborn child.

first of all, it has to be said that the the reality show format is handled really well, to the point that if you missed the opening titles you would be forgiven for mistaking it for part of an actual tv series. i love the idea of someone turning on the tv and catching delivery in the middle of the opening act and mistaking it for a genuine reality tv show. the first act is essentially the full pilot episode of the fictional show and then from that point onwards the film is made up of unaired material and interviews with the producer. it's certainly one of the more authentic found footage movies i've seen and that makes it even more disturbing when the supernatural elements kick in. the filmmakers also do a nice job of keeping the involvement of the film crew believable - they are made to leave the room a couple of times and at one point are banned from filming altogether and that adds another layer of reality.

laurel vail and danny barclay are fantastic as the two leads and play a very believable couple. they do a great job of acting like two people who have known each other for a very long time, which can't be an easy thing to accomplish in something like this, and they also have to deal with some really tough moments as their characters. their conflicts are as realistic as their affections and this makes the film all the more painful to watch.

perhaps as a result of this increased focus on reality the horror element never felt that extreme to me. there are unexplained events unfolding on camera and some pretty extreme moments early on, but for the most part this is standard haunting stuff. one recurring scene i've come across in a few found footage horror films (most recently in the possession of michael king) is the part where the protagonists consult a sound engineer about a spooky sound caught on tape and he (always a he) confirms that this sound could not be made by a human voice. that happens in this film too, as well as doors slamming, sleepwalking, dogs acting weird and so on. in a way it escalates too soon because it never feels like it gets any worse than the first few incidents.

but then there is the ending, which i will not say anything about other than it is truly, truly shocking and a real gut punch to the viewer.

delivery - the beast within is one of the more technically amibiitious and convincing found footage films i've seen, and what it lacks in scares it makes up for in believability and a truly horrifying final scene.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

interview with warren dudley - director of the cutting room

warren dudley wrote and directed a rather creepy and effective found footage horror film called the cutting room, which i reviewed last week.

it turns out we follow each other on twitter so i asked warren if he would be up for answering a few questions about the film for my blog and he kindly agreed. here's the interview -

what made you decide to make a found footage horror film, and were you a fan of the format before you started?

I love the format yes. I think when it's done well (particularly with horror) that you can really take the audience to the centre of the story. The tunnels sequence at the end would not have been half as scary shot traditionally I don't think.

i feel like there's a misconception about found footage films that they're somehow easier to shoot. did you find anything about the process easier than shooting a more traditional feature, and equally was any of it more difficult than you thought it would be?

It's easier technically. If you set out to make a film look like it's been shot by students you take away a lot of the normal pressures regarding cinematography etc... however it can get boring and hard to watch pretty quickly if done badly. We tried to find a happy medium though and kept the camera fairly steady throughout.

how did you find the location for the end sequence, and was it as terrifying to film there as it looked?

The underground tunnels are at Newhaven Fort in Sussex.... my wife is the Events Manager there! It's always less scary when you are surrounded by a film crew however one night I was left on my own down there mopping up fake blood in the dark... not for the faint hearted!

The Fort is open to the public so you can visit the set if you like.

how did you find your cast, and what did you do to help them appear so natural on camera?

Casting Call Pro. We had 1,100 applicants for the three main roles. We saw about 20 people and Lucy, Lydia and Parry stood out... particularly during the improv stuff we asked them to do. We didn't rehearse much so their performances on set were lovely and natural.

You can see their first auditions on our 'Making Of' film on the DVD.

did you have a full script for the cutting room, or was some of it improvised?

It was about 90% scripted I think and a bit of ad libbing thrown in. I'm never precious with scripts. I'd rather actors felt natural with dialogue as long as the point gets across by the end of the scene.

what are some of your favourite horror films?

I'm a fan of the classic 70's horrors like The Omen, Rosemary's Baby etc. They evoke an unease that modern horror doesn't seem to do.

Oh and a mention for An American Werewolf in London. A classic of my youth. The tunnels stuff in TCR was my little homage to the London Underground scene in the movie!

did you have any issues or take any special precautions to record the sound? it seemed really clear throughout, which is impressive considering how much the camera is moving around.

Just a great sound recordist. It's one of the areas with low budget film that seems to always get forgotten, yet it's something an audience won't accept. So hats off to Kirstie Howell.

where did the idea for the story of the cutting room come from, and was any of it based on real stories?

Not based on any true stories no. Obviously the idea of three students making a film for college and getting caught up in a terrible situation is not a new one (Blair Witch!) So I just tried to give it a dreary British feel. We also didn't use a supernatural element which most FF films seem to fall back on. Our bad guy very real.

the killer has a pretty awesome mask. was that something you had designed for the film?

£8.99 paintball mask from eBay + stage blood and mud...!

what are you working on next?

My next feature is a Psychological Thriller called 'Cage' - due for worldwide release in the summer. It stars Lucy from The Cutting Room. Here's the trailer -

thanks to warren for agreeing to the interview and for providing an insight into the making of the film.

you can follow warren on twitter for more cutting room and cage news @warrendudley

also, check out the cutting room website for information on where to find the film.

as above, so below

as above, so below is a film about archaeologist scarlett marlowe (perdita weeks) and her quest to follow in her father's footsteps and discover the fabled philosopher's stone. scarlett's expedition takes her to the catacombs beneath paris but she and her team soon discover that the stone is protected by ancient traps and malevolent forces.

i don't know if it was deliberate but both the dowdle brothers (who also made the excellent poughkeepsie tapes) and perdita weeks appear to be channelling lara croft here, and i don't mean that as a criticism because this is the best tomb raider film ever made. scarlett is a really cool character, with the knowledge and intelligence of sherlock holmes combined with the bravery and recklessness of indiana jones, but what weeks adds that really makes it work is some humanity and vulnerability.

as much as i'm a horror fan my favourite part of this film was the thirty minutes prior to scarlett descending into the catacombs beneath paris. i loved the way the mystery unravelled and how scarlett is so determined to succeed she doesn't mind destroying a few relics in the process. there's an energy to that opening which is perfect and really sets a great tone and pace for the rest of the film. scarlett's relationship with former lover george (ben feldman) works really well too and provides a nice story arc for both characters.

once the team find their way into the catacombs it becomes less tomb raider and more like the descent. there's a fantastically creepy moment with a group of underground cultists and a scene with a preserved templar corpse that could be a direct reference to the ending of indiana jones and the last crusade. there are also some cool scenes where the team have to figure out how to get out of certain rooms, usually by triggering some kind of ancient trap or mechanism. things escalate towards the end with zombie monks and living statues, all of which is handled really well and is suitably creepy as well as frantic and terrifying.

as well as the scares and the tomb raider tribute, there's also an interesting theme being explored here, about dwelling on past traumas and how (possible spoiler) you ultimately end up back where you started. i found the ending a little disappointing because i thought it was heading in a different direction, but then as my brother jack pointed out after we watched it there is something kind of refreshing about an ending with no surprises.

overall, i really loved this film. the dowdle brothers have clearly mastered the found footage format and manage to tell a compelling story with great characters whilst using the format to add a level of realism and kinetic energy that really makes it work.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the possession of michael king

the possession of michael king tells the story of a filmmaker determined to disprove the existence of the supernatural. to do so he puts himself through a couple of extreme black magic rituals and discovers too late that he has become living proof of the very thing he was trying to debunk.

the success of this film relies very much on the performance of shane johnson in the title role and our empathy with his character. johnson is onscreen for almost every minute of the film so it's a huge undertaking for him, especially considering the gruelling nature of some of the scenes. i never really thought about that while watching it though because it's the kind of performance that makes you forget you're watching a performance. it's almost as if johnson has been playing king as part of a one man show for years that is only now being filmed; there's a confidence and an authenticity to the way he plays the character that really resonates and suggests that there is much more to the character than what is scripted. most importantly johnson is charismatic and likable making it easier to get on board with his plan and follow him on the journey.

the writing here is also very strong when it comes to the character. we are first shown king with his wife and daughter, then in the next scene we discover his wife was killed in an accident that could have been avoided had she not taken advice from a clairvoyant. this gets us on side with king's crusade against belief in the supernatural immediately. giving king a daughter also adds a vulnerability to his character and raises the stakes as things begin to escalate.

the horror elements are handled really well and there are a few surprises, particularly with the use of ants to indicate the possession becoming worse. the necromancy and demon summoning rituals king subjects himself to are both really effective and the necromancy ritual in particular was something I haven't seen on film before. my only reservation is that for me it all escalated far too quickly. given that this is a story about a sceptic i was expecting a more subtle introduction of the supernatural elements when in fact king gets what is essentially definitive proof well within the first 30 minutes of the film.

that said, the possession of michael king has a strong premise and a great central performance, both of which make this one of the more accomplished and interesting found footage horror films i've seen.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the cutting room

the cutting room is a british found footage film about three teenage media students tasked with making a documentary by their college tutor, himself a failed filmmaker. in addition, the tutor asks them to document the filmmaking process, hence the perfect set-up for a found footage film. the students decide to tackle cyberbullying as their subject matter but their investigation soon leads them into dangerous territory.

from the opening minutes the cutting room looks as though it's going to be a rather grim torture porn movie set in a creepy location. there is a sub-genre of horror that i'll call location-inspired horror, where the filmmakers have found a cool location and decided to set an entire film there. thankfully, that's not the case here. writer/director warren dudley instead spends time developing the characters and the story first, pulling back on the horror until the last possible moment and this really pays off.

the three main characters, charlie (lucy-jane quinlan), jess (lydia orange) and raz (parry glasspool) are all really likable and the cast do a great job making them feel real. there's a perfect naivety in the script and the performances that makes it totally believable that these characters would plunge themselves into a highly dangerous situation without fully considering the consequences. there's a great scene where the three are discussing possible topics for their documentary and it really reminded me of working on similar college projects myself without any thought of the practicalities.

the investigation into cyberbullying and one case in particular is actually the most enjoyable portion of the film and there's a nice balance between showing that these kids have no idea what they're doing and also having them make some genuine progress. at the same time there's a sense of constant creeping terror as they move closer to the truth, or at perhaps the truth moves closer to them. all this builds to a third act finale where full use is made of the aforementioned creepy location.

the cutting room perhaps isn't as innovative or ambitious as some of the films i've reviewed recently, but it is a well-produced and effective horror film bolstered by a talented cast and an interesting location so it's definitely worth seeing.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

mockingbird

mockingbird is a found footage film with a high concept premise. three people receive a box with a video camera inside. the camera is already recording and they can't switch it off. later, they receive a message that states keep filming or die. they are given clues to follow, and over the course of one evening they are manipulated by an unseen presence until all the characters finally cross paths with devastating consequences.

mockingbird is directed by bryan bertino who also directed the strangers. i really liked the strangers. i know it's a film that divided audiences, as i imagine this one does, but for me the idea that the home invaders weren't motivated by anything and possibly didn't really exist was really fascinating. it was an old fashioned horror film told with an art film aesthetic and i love anything that pushes the boundaries of the horror genre like that. mockingbird does exactly the same thing.

the closest comparisons to mockingbird are probably the saw films. here there's the same idea of a riddle with fatal consequences and questions around the motivation of the antagonist - are they trying to prove a point and how are the victims connected? at the same time, there is an atmosphere and a style to this film that makes it an innovative if difficult watch. bertino never breaks from the format, keeping us at arms length throughout the film with the only suggestion of someone driving the narrative coming from the title cards that divide each chapter. it's a hard film to enjoy because it never feels like characters are getting anywhere; the film is lead by the antagonist and at a certain point it feels like the characters as well as the audience simply have to wait to see what is in store for them. while unconventional, this lack of character arc or development is intentional and does succeed in putting the audience in exactly the same position as the characters. for me it works, but i can see how others may find it frustrating.

from a technical standpoint, mockingbird is one of the most accomplished found footage films i've seen. bertino does something really clever with music, in that the only music we hear is being played in the actual scenes themselves. at one point he cuts between three cameras in one location and the music jumps, showing that we're still listening to the music in the room, not on a soundtrack. it's a small detail, but it reinforces to bertino's conviction to the format and adds to the atmosphere.

of the films i've watched so far, mockingbird is the most challenging but also the most interesting. i really liked bertino's take on the format, and it shows that with a little thought and conviction there are endless possibilities for the found footage horror film.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

europa report

europa report takes the form of a documentary about the the crew of europa one and their mission to explore the outer reaches of our solar system in search of life. their destination as the title suggests, is europa, one of jupiter's moons and one of the few planets capable of supporting life due to the presence of water on its surface. naturally, things do not go to plan.

europa report is probably more sci-fi than horror, although there is a horror element. it's a very well-made film, the set in particular has clearly had a lot of effort put into the detail and it's necessary because we spend most of our time there. the performances are great too, particularly from daniel wu and sharlto copley who kind of play opposites in that one is all about the mission and the other is all about the experience. there are some very tense moments, basically any time anyone does anything outside the spacecraft, and there is a constant sense of human beings trying to explore somewhere that we're not physically equipped to explore. they shouldn't be there, not in space and certainly not on the surface of europa, and the filmmakers never allow us to forget that.

my only really issue with europa report was that it felt a little like i'd seen it all before. it's all handled really well, and the found footage element i suppose allows it to be a film on the scale of something like gravity without access to the same budget, but i'm not sure that this film was really doing anything that other films haven't already done, even going back to the sci-fi movies of the fifties. the found footage format doesn't add all that much, if i'm honest, because there are so many cameras in the spaceship that it feels like a conventional film most of the time anyway. when the crew arrives at their destination there are some really interesting scenes, and without wanting to spoil it the way that what they find on the planet is handled is unexpected and interesting. that said, it felt to me like this is a film that couldn't decide where it wanted to be - was it a serious space expedition drama or a sci-fi monster movie? it's a film that falls somewhere between gravity and alien, and that's fine but at times it feels like it needed to have decided one way or another.

i really enjoyed europa report, i think the cast and the filmmakers did an excellent job of showing me what it was like to travel into deep space, i think the ending is really good and definitely satisfies the promise of the premise. at the same time i felt like it was missing something and occasionally its commitment to authenticity was at the expense of a persistent narrative.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

afflicted

afflicted follows two friends, derek and clif (played by real-life friends derek lee and clif prowse), who decide to quit their jobs and travel the world whilst capturing the whole trip on video. however, their trip is cut short when derek begins to exhibit strange behaviour following an encounter with a mysterious woman in paris.

after a cool, light-hearted intro that instantly makes us like the two characters things soon take a turn for the worse. it's hard not to talk about what type of film this without spoiling it, so if you are really thinking of watching afflicted, and it is worth checking out, you should consider skipping the rest of this review.

basically, this is a vampire film. derek is bitten by a vampire in paris and proceeds to turn over the next few nights. as such, the film follows much the same structure as most vampire/werewolf films. there's the initial panic over having been bitten, then there's the odd behaviour like not being able to eat solid food and cooking in the sunlight, and then there are the unexpected benefits like super strength and speed. there is a catch to the benefits, of course, and we all know what that is.

as a vampire story, afflicted offers nothing new to the genre. guy gets bitten, realises what he is, has to either figure out a way to fix it or learn to live with it. so far, so lost boys, but what's great about afflicted is the way it tells the story. this is a film that uses the found footage format to its full potential and is all the better for doing so. not only is there a good reason for the format being in place but it also never breaks perspective. as the film progresses and derek's powers become more pronounced there are some rather spectacular p.o.v. moments including several rooftop chases in which derek basically leaps tall buildings with a camera attached to his chest. there are some truly breathtaking moments in the action and they are completely unexpected and yet totally in keeping with the world and the characters the filmmakers have established. there is also some really cool effects work in this film and again, the fact that we're watching it on a shaky handheld camera adds to authenticity and impact of those shots.

overall, there is nothing new here in storytelling terms but one thing afflicted certainly does achieve is to justify and show the possibilities of the found footage format. if you're someone who doens't like found footage films particularly then this is the film i'd recommend watching first because it's the closest thing to cinema-as-rollercoaster that you will have seen in the horror genre.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

evil things

evil things has a fairly typical horror set-up - five college students head out on vacation to the middle of nowhere. in this film, they are tormented by a mysterious, unseen stranger in a big black van who tries to run them off the road and later creeps around their house filming them while they sleep. the torment doesn't stop there.

at first evil things seems like it's going to be the same as every other horror movie and exactly the type of film that cabin in the woods parodied so perfectly. however, there is something very different about this film and it's hard to place at first. basically, there is something about the characters and the performances of the actors that makes this film seem very real. so there are three girls and two guys, but these are not your stereotypical slasher victims. there's no jock, no nerd, no cheerleader - they look like real people and they act like it too.

interestingly, director dominic perez chooses not to film the characters for the first ten minutes or so, instead focusing on the road and only allowing us to hear their voices. it's actually a surprise when the guy with the camera, leo, turns the camera around to reveal there are three people sitting on the back seat of the car. it's a nice moment because it feels real; it feels more natural that leo doesn't film the others as soon as they climb into the car. this naturalism continues throughout the first forty-five minutes of the film, and of all the films i've watched recently the one it reminded me of most was the 'hypereal' starvecrow, which focused almost entirely on naturalism in its performances. the difference is, i cared more about these characters. they seemed like nice people; people i would like to hang out with. that's ultimately what makes the film work.

i don't want to spoil the ending, but once things kick off and the stranger inevitably comes to the house there are some cool moments but the whole thing is over too quickly. there's also a really unnecessarily long post-credits sequence showing all the footage the stranger filmed, which i didn't really need to see. to be honest, the third act of this film feels about twenty-minutes too short and without the elongated credits it would probably be a sixty-minute movie.

despite a disappointing ending, evil things is still an enjoyable film and it was really nice to see some realistic characters in something like this for a change.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the sacrament

the sacrament follows a photographer, patrick (kentucker audley), who receives a letter from his sister claiming she has joined some kind of cult and she wants him to visit. thinking she needs rescuing, patrick decides to take her up on her offer but brings two journalists with him to film the process, sam (a.j. bowen) and jake (joe swanberg). at first the group her sister has joined seems too good to be true, but then they discover a darkness beneath the seemingly perfect surface.

one thing i love about ti west is that he knows how to take his time getting to a story, and i mean that as a compliment. i love house of the devil. it's a film in which the main character walks around an empty house for the majority of the running time, and it's kind of perfect. the sacrament is no different - it's not until the fifty-minute mark that the problems with the cult begin to surface, and yet this rather unnatural elongating of the first act really works. it's almost like west uses a two act structure rather than the traditional three, because the break into the second act seems to happen just as we're getting into the third.

anyway, the first fifty minutes of this film are amazing. the performances are great, i believed in the characters and loved the fact that there's this tension bubbling beneath the surface throughout. it being a horror film it's obvious there will be something wrong, but like the best horror films the tension comes from guessing what exactly will go wrong and whether the characters will work it out in time. once things do go wrong, i started to lose interest.

the big problem for me was that the moment things kick off the format is practically abandoned. one of the characters still has his camera, but the other one loses his to one of the cult members. this person who steals the camera, someone who has never really used a camera before, then proceeds to film the most professional looking scene ever, with multiple angles and everything. there's no way it would have been filmed like that, and it's a real shame because it totally took me out of the story. the thing that's so disappointing about that moment is that it seems so unnecessary - i would have had no issue watching the scene through a series of shaky, handheld shots and in some ways that would have made it even more disturbing. instead, the found footage aspect is abandoned and we're watching a proper film again.

my other issue is that i wanted there to be more to the story. there are some nice, subtle hints about what the cult is up to and in some ways i liked that it wasn't spelt out, but at the same time the end result felt a bit derivative to me. to me the scary thing about a cult is the fear that they could be right. i loved the ending of red state, except it undermined the perfect ending by having another ten minutes of ending, but there's that moment (spoiler) where you think god has turned up to sort things out and the crazies were right all along. that's terrifying to me, and the sacrament did look like it was headed in that direction at one point. but no, this time the crazies are just crazy.

the sacrament is still a great film, particularly for the first hour, and there are some quite shocking surprises towards the end. also, i do think ti west has a really unique style so it's always worth watching his films.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the visit

so it's been a while since i loved anything by m. night shyamalan, but the visit is his best film in years, possibly ever. and i say this as someone who actually kind of liked signs.

the film follows a brother and sister, becca and tyler, who are going to stay with their grandparents for a week. the problem is, they've never met their grandparents before and their mother isn't going with them. not long after their arrival they begin to suspect something may not be quite right with their new relatives, and they decide to investigate.

the visit has one of the best conceits for the found footage format in that fifteen-year-old becca is a film geek who wants to make a documentary about meeting her grandparents for the first time, as well as uncovering the secret reason her mother won't speak to them anymore. firstly, i loved that it was the sister who was the film geek and not the brother, even if she did seem more knowledgeable about documentary filmmaking than all my film theory lecturers combined.  however, the main advantage is that it excuses all kinds of ridiculous behaviour that we just wouldn't stand for in other horror movies. this is a kid with a camera - of course she's going to film the crawlspace under the house, that's what kids do!

the film also has a really nice build-up and keeps you guessing as to what the problem with the grandparents really is. like the taking, some of the horror in the visit comes from the idea of getting old and what it's like living with people who are no longer in control of their actions. there's also a nice comparison between the problems, both physical and mental, that the grandparents have compared to the insecurities the kids have. then things escalate and it gets a bit too ridiculous for my tastes, but it was still a cool ride.

this was one of the more solid films i've seen with great performances throughout and a masterclass in building suspense. it loses something when you find out what's really going on, but the journey to that point really makes this film worthwhile

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

starvecrow

starvecrow is a film made up entirely of mobile phone videos and cctv footage, mostly the former. it tells the story of ben, a control-freak who films everything, and jess, his girlfriend who is just out of rehab. there is also a group of younger characters planning a party in the huge country house belonging to their parents. when ben finds out that jess is planning on going to this party and he isn’t invited he decides he’s going to crash it anyway, and this is where things start to get a bit dark.

of all the found footage films i’ve watched this past week, starvecrow has been the most unsettling and the only one to actually give me nightmares (i woke up convinced there was someone trying to get into the house). it doesn’t feel like a horror film in the traditional sense, but at the same time there are some typical horror elements – a ouija board, dead animals turning up all over the place and a particularly creepy home invasion scene, that last one being the part that really got to me. there are also some slasher movie elements but you can't really describe it as a slasher film. the fact that it's all filmed on mobile phones does add a reality to it that's missing from similar films, and the actors do an amazing job of maintaining this reality. in fact, i can't say enough about how great the actors are in this film. it never feels forced or overly performed and yet the actors have to get through some very tough scenes so it really is an impressive piece of work on that front.

the makers of starvecrow claim that this the world’s first ‘selfie’ movie and part of a pioneering new film movement called ‘hypereal’. while there is something unique and refreshing about the style of the film, i think that comes from the refusal to present narrative coherence rather than the way in which it is filmed. it’s fairly common in the found footage medium to mix footage from mobile phones with cctv as well as footage filmed on actual cameras. starvecrow even goes out of its way to justify the fact that everything we're seeing has been filmed on phone cameras, with ben insisting he has a disorder that means he has to film everything and then later stating that the younger characters film everything anyway. this repeated explanation of why we're seeing what we're seeing is a staple of the found footage format. what seems different here is that we are made to piece the story together ourselves which gives it more of a sense of a random collage of clips from which a story emerges. that said, we are led to follow a very deliberate route with voiceover from ben’s session with a therapist helping to fill in the blanks. in a way this addition of what is essentially a voiceover narration makes starvecrow more like a traditional film than any of the other found footage films i’ve seen recently.

on this point, ben has an interesting bitterness about the fact that he is seen as a freak for constantly filming and yet the kids get away with it. as mentioned above, he claims that the kids are filming each other all the time so when he steals their phones he has access to their whole lives. to prove his point, ben states that the kids will pay hundreds of pounds to go to a gig only to film it on their phones. while there is some truth in this, in my experience it’s the older people at gigs usually doing the filming. the kids are mostly down at the front enjoying the experience. if i’m honest, this whole theme of selfie-obsessed teens felt a bit like my dad watched a zoella video and decided all kids everywhere have decided to view life through the screen of their iphone. i’m older than the younger characters in this film, but it did feel like ben’s scorn was directed at youtubers like me to some extent. there’s a sort of older generation paranoia to this and i’m wary of making the mistake of thinking the voice of the main character is the voice of the filmmakers, but the paranoia seemed out of place coming from a character who can’t be much older than i am. and yes, i perhaps am taking this too personally, but this is a very confrontational film at times.

although it seems completely different on the surface, the film this reminded me of most was the houses of halloween. there’s an intimacy to the party scenes that reminded me of the five friends partying as they crossed the states. the difference is that i cared more about what happened to the people in that film. here, director james carver makes it incredibly difficult for us to care about anyone. the central theme of the film is that everyone is hiding their true selves and beneath the surface we all have secrets, most of which we record on our phones. this theme suits the medium really well because what we’re seeing feels so real and this makes it all the more shocking when we are shown the truth about the characters. it also makes starvecrow a rather nihilistic and, as i said, confrontational experience. it reminded me of lars von trier's more divisive works, like breaking the waves or the idiots, like it’s almost daring the audience to be offended.

i wasn’t offended, but i did find certain elements of the film problematic. there’s a moment where ben says something about how messed up these kids are when you scratch beneath the surface, and we do see them abuse each other in some quite shocking revelatory scenes. my issue is that it’s not all of them, as ben states, it’s just the men. the men are the ones delivering the abuse, there’s not one male character in the film who comes off okay. meanwhile, the women exist only to suffer. they are victims of abuse, whether it’s psychological or physical. i’m on board with the idea that people are messed up - unfriended did a fantastic job at portraying this in a way that was much less extreme and confrontational and yet just as shocking. what i’m not comfortable with is the idea that all men are abusers and all women are victims and that certainly appears to be the case in the world this film shows us.

despite some of the problems i had with the film, starvecrow is as fascinating as it is challenging. there is a complexity and ambition to this project that demands admiration and while i’m not that comfortable with some of the ideas presented on screen it is refreshing to see a film that has such an intentionally antagonistic relationship with its audience. in addition, for the horror fans there are some truly unsettling scenes here that will really get under your skin. i would say it’s definitely a film worth seeing, just be away that it’s occasionally a bumpy ride.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the borderlands

the borderlands (a.k.a final prayer) is a british found footage movie about three men working for the vatican who are tasked with verifying a supposed miracle that occured in a small village church in england. the team includes two priests, mark (aidan mcardle) and deacon (gordon kennedy), and a technician, grey (robin hill), who is responsible for ensuring that everything is recorded. however, not long after the team arrive they being to realise that they may be more to the alleged miracle than first reported.

the first thing that struck me about the borderlands was the familiarity of the setting. i've been to countless small villages like the one in this film, in fact it's not dissimilar to the village in devon where my dad lives. i've always been fascinated with small village churches too, and there is something about quiet, old buildings that's kind of creepy. this film plays on that creepiness perfectly.

the set-up is really interesting and works well for the story. the characters are well-written and acted too, particularly grey and deacon. despite their unusual profession, both characters come across like real people just trying to get a job done. robin hill is particularly great as grey and really puts across a sense of a being your average techie thrown into a very unusual situation. grey's atheism is also an interesting character point, which leads to some interesting debates that are played out in the film.

the horror or supernatural element is really held back in this film, very much to its credit. there are some nice, almost hidden suggestions of spooky goings-on that are really there for the audience to see and not the characters. when things do kick off it's quite unsettling but all of this is really building up to one of the greatest and most terrifying horror endings i've seen in a while. the last five minutes of this film are truly disturbing and it's worth a watch just to experience that moment.

i really enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend you check it out. plus, it's nice to have a british film on the list as there don't seem to be too many found footage films being made over here right now.

the found footage blogathon will run from throughout february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the taking

also known as the taking of deborah logan, this film takes the form of a phd student's project on alzheimer's disease. mia (michelle ang) takes a small film crew to the house of deborah logan (jill larson) where she is greeted by deborah's carer, her daughter, sarah (anne ramsay). the crew install cameras all over the house and they begin to film deborah's struggle with the disease, although it soon becomes apparent that it's not just alzheimer's taking deborah's mind but something else entirely.

this is another film that's hard to describe without ruining the plot, but there are definitely some surprises here. to be honest, alzheimer's is a terrifying enough concept on its own and the film does a great job portraying that, but once you add supernatural forces to the problem things quickly become so much worse. there are some truly creepy moments in this film and whenever deborah wanders off on her own at night there's some tension in anticipating what she'll be doing when they find her. sometimes she's out in the garden digging holes in the ground, sometimes she's staring out of windows at invisible strangers, and then sometimes there are snakes, lots of snakes.

like most really good horror films the thing that really makes the taking work is the development of the characters. while the film crew are key, the most important character in the film is sarah, deborah's daughter. it's through sarah that we see what having a parent who's suffering can do to a person, and the lengths they will go to in order to save her. while jill larson should be praised for her incredibly brave performance as deborah, anne ramsay's take on sarah is the most genuine element of the film and really holds everything together.

as a general note, one aspect of this film that i really appreciated is that it's a film about women doing stuff. not only do we have mia, sarah and deborah but deborah's doctor and the town sheriff are women too. i wonder if that ties into the story somehow, because ultimately this is a film about mothers and daughters. deborah mentions on a couple of occasions that she's disappointed with how sarah grew up, and while most of that stems from sarah's homosexuality (how refreshing to have a middle-aged lesbian as the lead character in a film) i wondered if the three other women - the phd student, the doctor, the sheriff - represented other roles sarah could have chosen in life. it doesn't really matter, because the important thing to note is that when everything kicks off the four people trying to sort it out are all women and that's something you never see in movies.

i thought the taking had everything you need from a found footage film - it was creepy, it had a good set-up and there were a few surprises, plus some amazing effects work towards the end. the fact that it's film in which women get to do all the stuff is an added bonus.

the found footage blogathon will run from 27th january to 3rd february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

the houses of halloween

the houses of halloween follows a group of five friends on a road trip who intend to visit as many horror haunts as possible in the run up to halloween. as halloween creeps closer the friends discover that the most extreme haunt of all may be coming to them.

i've only been to a couple of of halloween haunts, the short-lived 'fear' in brighton and death trap in london. i think they're great, they're like real-life horror films, i'd love to go to more. i'm also kind of obsessed with mckamey manor and yes, i have asked to be added to the waiting list although i have no idea how i'd actually get there right now. i keep hoping someone will open something similar in the uk. anyway, my point is, i love the idea of halloween haunts so a movie about people looking for the most extreme haunt ever was very appealing to me.

the first hour of the film almost plays like a documentary, with the cast visiting what are presumably real haunts intercut with interviews with participants and the people who run the attractions. as the group move from haunt to haunt they hear about a legendary attraction called the blue skeleton, said to be the most extreme haunt ever. before long they are following a trail of clues and soon find themselves face-to-face with a group of terrifying individuals who may or may not be actors.

aside from the haunts and the found footage format, this film really reminded me of the texas chainsaw massacre. there's a sense of moving into uncharted territory as they travel deeper into the less populated regions of america, and a creeping dread that anything can happen out there. this idea of moving closer to something truly terrifying is what drives the film forward and is handled quite effectively, particularly when the same haunt actors seem to appear at different locations. there's one especially terrifying creature, a doll-like girl with a porcelain face, who provides some of the scariest moments in the film.

that said, when they eventually find the blue skeleton i found it a little anti-climactic. maybe it's because i've seen so much more extreme stuff happening in the mckamey manor videos or maybe it's because so much of the final sequence is shot in almost pitch black darkness, but it didn't seem as scary as some of the real haunts they'd seen on the road. i think the real problem here is that the houses of halloween doesn't quite know what it is. the documentary-like portions of the film lack structure and sometimes feel more like an afterthought than part of the film. in some ways i would have preferred it if the five friends had been an actual documentary crew with the aim of investigating these places rather than some buddies looking for extreme scares. at the same time, the narrative doesn't feel fully committed either, partly because none of the characters really have any development or arc. as a result it often feels like we're just waiting for something to happen to them and i'll be honest, i didn't care about them all that much when they were supposedly in real danger.

while the end result isn't perfect, i did really enjoy watching this film and i thought the cast and crew did a great job at making it feel authentic. it certainly made me want to do what they did - a halloween haunt road trip sounds like the perfect holiday to me.

the found footage blogathon will run from 27th january to 3rd february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

unfriended

similar to open windows, unfriended is a story that unfolds entirely on a computer screen, mostly through a video chat between five friends. the film opens with the suicide of a teenage girl and the revelation that the suicide was the result of online bullying by her peers. over the course of a single night five friends are seemingly contacted by the dead girl and she wants to play a game with them.

it was interesting watching this film immediately after seeing open windows, because in many ways they're quite similar. the difference is that unfriended gets a couple of things right that open windows got wrong. first of all, the camera is fixed and while our focus is somewhat directed by the character manipulating the windows on the screen, we do choose what to look at to an extent. however, the main thing that makes unfriended work is that the characters are well-written and there is an emotional intensity to the performances that really makes them feel real.

if you strip away the format, unfriended is nothing more than a straightforward slasher film. cyberbullying has been covered by slasher films before, in the movie smiley face and probably others. the key to a good slasher films isn't great kills or an interesting new monster, it's good characters. if we care about the characters we care about what happens to them and we don't want them to die. so many slasher films get this wrong, presenting us with a host of obnoxious teens in the misguided belief that the audience takes some pleasure in watching these kids being killed in the most gruesome way possible. it doesn't matter how good the kills are, we need to care about the person being threatened with death. this is why unfriended works.

the relationship between the characters and the way they talk to each other feels real, and this is enhanced by the format. essentially this is one long conversation and could almost be done as a stageplay. making 90 minutes of straight dialogue work and seem real in a horror film is not easy to do, but the acting, direction and script are strong enough here to pull it off. this means there's an emotional intensity to the scenes that adds more tension than the impending carnage.

at its heart this is a film about teenage friendship and what happens when that friendship is tested. it's a character piece, and to be honest would have worked even without the slasher element. i thought it was a really accomplished, innovative and well performed piece of drama and for that reason it's worth checking out.

the found footage blogathon will run from 27th january to 3rd february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

open windows

open windows is kind of like an ultra-modern take on rear window that somehow comes off as more old fashioned. i'll explain.

the film follows fanboy nick chambers (elijah wood) who has won a contest to meet his idol, superstar actress jill goddard (sasha grey). nick soon realises he's been set up by a malevolent hacker who is using nick's obsession to make him a scapegoat in a kidnapping plot. nick must figure out a way to save jill without alerting the hacker who is watching their every move.

the thing that makes open windows different is that the whole film is told via a computer screen, with the camera zooming in and out of the various windows open on nick's desktop. while this at first seems incredibly limiting, director nacho vigalondo (who directed my favourite part of v/h/s viral as well as the excellent time crimes) manages to take us almost anywhere via the desktop without ever stretching our suspension of disbelief too far. it is at times an incredibly exhilarating new way to tell a story and further proof that vigalondo is a true innovator.

the story itself works for the most part and there are some great moments of tension, particular when nick is trying to evade the police whilst talking to about three different people via his laptop. there are probably one or two twists too many, but where it fell down for me was with the characters. it's partly because the story is so fast-paced but it feels like we never really get to know anyone before we're thrown into the action with them. as a result some of the decisions made by the characters and some of their emotional changes seem to come from nowhere. even the hacker, played brilliantly by neil maskell, makes some pretty random choices towards the end and becomes a caricature of a movie villain as a result.

i did wonder if some of this was deliberate. the film opens with a clip from jill goddard's latest movie, which plays like a parody of a big summer blockbuster. one of the theme's of the film is about how we perceive stars and jill's overall story arc is one of escape, not just from her kidnapper but from the hollywood prison that stops her living her life the way she wants to. this is an interesting idea and one worthy of examination, except the theme, like jill herself, is ultimately a side-plot. there's a moment that perhaps sums up why this didn't work for me.

so towards the end of the first act, jill is forced to strip on camera. through nick's eyes this is supposed to be an incredibly uncomfortable, awkward scene and it could so easily have been played this way if we as an audience had any choice in the matter. instead, the 'camera' zooms in on jill's window so we see the whole thing. it is an awkward and uncomfortable moment as intended, but it's awkward because the director is making us watch it in close-up. found footage movies give filmmakers an opportunity to present a reality and give the viewer the choice of what they focus on in that reality. the really great found footage movies, films like lake mungo and even the first paranormal activity, really make the most of that so that the viewer becomes involved in the story. here, that choice is taken away because we are forced to look at what the director wants us to look at, and what he wants us to look at is a woman taking her clothes off.

i can't help feeling that open windows could have told almost exactly the same story with the same beats in a much more effective way by putting the focus on jill rather than nick. jill has the more compelling story anyway, and placed in her shoes the themes around how we view and what we expect of women in films could really have been explored. but this isn't a film about that. ultimately, this is a film about control and about how men are pulling the strings. it's hard to really explain that without spoiling the ending, but that is what it's about. that brings me back to my opening sentence, because the end result is a film that is so backward in its representation of gender roles that it makes rear window look positively transgressive. to put it simply, rear window is a film in which the traditional male hero is emasculated and has to give up control to his female partner. open windows is a film in which a modern male hero, a computer geek, has all the power and the female character is relegated to being tied up, beaten and abused via a variety of p.o.v. shots.

i'm not saying you shouldn't watch this film and i still think vigalondo is a genius, i just think there are some serious problems with the narrative and open windows feels like a wasted opportunity as a result. which is a shame because i badly wanted to like this film.

the found footage blogathon will run from 27th january to 3rd february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.

v/h/s viral

i'll be honest, i wasn't hugely impressed with the first two v/h/s movies. i reviewed the first one here and i intended to review the sequel, but i liked it even less than the first and decided not to bother. i think it's partly that an anthology found footage movie is such a great idea and the talent involved is so promising that they should be better films than they are. i hadn't heard great things about the third film in the series to begin with, so i had some reservations going in.

like the previous films there's a framing story (vicious circles directed by marcel sarmiento), this time about a guy in pursuit of an ice cream van after it seemingly kidnaps his girlfriend, although here the framing story doesn't really tie in to the other episodes. the other stories concern a stage magician who can perform real magic (dante the great by gregg bishop), a scientist who opens a doorway to another dimension (parallel monsters by nacho vigalondo), and a group of skater kids who travel to mexico to film a video and get into a fight with some local zombies (bonestorm by justin benson and aaron scott moorhead).

the first thing to note about v/h/s viral is that it makes a very half-hearted attempt to conform to the constraints of the medium. most of the time it's barely a found footage film at all. in vicious circles and particularly dante the great there are often moments where it's impossible to work out who's filming the action and why there's even a camera there. parallel monsters is shot pretty much on two cameras and remains consistent, but to be honest the fact that it's shot like that isn't integral to the telling of the story at all. the only one that really makes use of the medium is bonestorm because it uses the fact that skateboarders making a video will obviously film absolutely everything, and their zombie battle is edited in the same kinetic style as their skate videos. if the lack of adherence to the 'rules' of found footage cinema bothers you, it's a tough thing to get past. if you don't care about that then there is actually some really great stuff here.

dante the great, the story of a magician who finds a magic cloak that allows him to do real magic (with some conditions), is actually a pretty cool story. it feels like a classic twilight zone episode and features some really impressive effects. at the end there's even a kind of magic duel that reminded me of the ending of that roger corman movie, the raven, where karloff and vincent price are firing spells at each other.

but the real highlight for me was the nacho vigalondo story, parallel monsters. back when i first started this blog i reviewed vigalondo's film time crimes, and i was impressed with the inventiveness and originality vigalondo displayed in that movie. here, he's on top form again. parallel monsters is kind of like an episode of that tv series from the 90s, sliders, where the characters would explore a different parallel dimension each week. part of the fun with that show was trying to work out what particular quirk made each new dimension different and it's the same here, except the quirk in parallel monsters is completely insane in the best possible way. i don't want to spoil it, but there are creature effects and it is very, very strange.

like most portmanteau movies, v/h/s viral is a bit of a mixed bag but while the framing story lets it down the most the three individual stories are actually pretty innovative and entertaining, even if the found footage angle isn't used to its full potential. for that reason i think it's actually the strongest of the v/h/s trilogy and quite an entertaining watch.

the found footage blogathon will run from 27th january to 3rd february, in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post next week. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.