Not Rated (Contains Sci-Fi Action, Violence, and Some Disturbing Images)
The Morris family is off for a relaxing weekend camping trip in the woods. Their youngest son, Riley (Riley Polanski), documents the vacation as a form of coping for his autism. It looks to be a fairly standard family togetherness trip. That is, until they come across something during their last night. The children discover strange lights in the night sky that don’t act like normal stars. While on their way home, they come across a road filled with abandoned cars. They soon find themselves stalked by mysterious figures that appear to be aliens wanting to capture them. They’ll have to work together if they want to make it out of this alive. There isn’t much to the plot of this one. It’s a very basic alien chase plot that pretty much adheres to a well established formula. It’s pretty easy to figure out what’s going to happen throughout the story. However, just because it doesn’t try anything new with the story, doesn’t mean it’s a bad film. It actually does a good job running with said established formula. Usually a basic story is all that is necessary for a film to work as long as it does something good with it, and this one certainly does. It may not take many unexpected directions, but the way it tells the story is capable of keeping you invested throughout. A lot of this comes from the central family. The actors all do really good jobs in their respective roles, giving realism to their fairly one-dimensional characters. It helps that they aren’t all that obnoxious. They really just feel like a family wanting to have fun, and not upset to be around each other. This realism is also aided by their chemistry. They all feel like a real family despite being made up of unrelated actors. Their relationships feel genuine, and this really helps the audience connect with them and root for them when the aliens start going after them. There are a few different things that occur, mostly down towards the end. And that also helps the story feel gripping, and often feels like the filmmakers are at least trying to subvert our expectations sometimes. Alien Abduction is about as basic a story as you can get, but that doesn’t automatically make it bad. It runs with what it has and it does it well, elevated by a great central cast and story that keeps you entertained without really reinventing the wheel. It may mostly go in places you’d expect, but it does have a few surprises that may just win you over.
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Rated R for strong bloody violence, terror, some sexuality, graphic nudity, and language.
Graduate student Liz (Melanie Papalia) is conducting a final project on a website called The Den, where you can chat with strangers online. She’s hoping to discover if someone can form a meaningful relationship with random people over the site. For the most part, all she finds are people attempting to get reactions out of her with inappropriate content or scams. But she probably didn’t expect to run into a murder. Her research ends up drawing the attention of a group that tortures and kills a woman on camera for Liz to see. It isn’t long before they set their sights on her, wanting her to react to the sadistic things they’re up to. Will she be able to escape them, or will she become their next victim? The Den is told almost entirely over Liz’s computer desktop. It’s kind of like a precursor to Unfriended, which was also shot in the same style. Though that film featured various real-life apps and websites, The Den focuses mostly on the titular fictional site, which is inspired by Chatroulette both in its design and its content. This movie is really keen on making comments on the kind of inappropriate things you find on that sight. People do really gross and sometimes illegal things just to get a rise out of whoever comes up on the other end. The Den takes this idea and blows it up to involve a murder mystery. Because of this, the film can actually be hard to watch sometimes. Honestly, it’s the film’s versions of sexual-based content that make it feel a bit much at times. Sure, there’s moments of graphic violence that gets bloody and gory, but it all feels pretty standard when it comes to similar horror films. There are a number of gross out moments that actually feel more realistic than the kills, and that makes them a bit more than I can handle. However, for being one of the earliest films shot as a computer screen film, the movie actually accomplishes a lot with very little. The visual effects used to create the fake desktop are top-notch and feel like a real computer screen. The work of director Zachary Donohue makes the site pleasing to look at. The bright colors perfectly off-put you for the horrors of what’s happening within the chat windows. The performances of the cast are also pretty good. Lead actress Melanie Papalia does a good job with all that is required for the character, which is quite a lot. Liz has to go through some really intense things throughout the story, and Papalia really nails the curiosity, concern, and fear that comes with each scenario. The Den can be hard to swallow sometimes, but it does a good job working with what it has. It’s juxtaposition of the lightly colored website and dark, sinister things happening within it give the film a menacing atmosphere. It’s probably not the deepest examination of its own central themes, but it’s a fun foray into the world of computer screen films. Rated R for language throughout, some violence, sexual content and drug use.
Five friends, Brian (Chris Osborn), Matt (Samuel Davis), Dora (Dora Madison Burge), Todd (Roger Edwards), and Elizabeth (Denise Williamson), are on their way to spend time at a family member’s cabin in East Texas. Though the cabin isn’t in the best shape, having been abandoned for quite some time, they are still determined to have a great time. However, while on their journey, they seemingly hit an animal on the road. This is only the first of many strange encounters, as the group discovers that a dark figure is watching them from a distance. All the sightings point to it possibly being Bigfoot, and it has set its sights on them, determined to kill them all. Exists is a return to various genres and styles for director Eduardo Sanchez. It was the first time he had made a feature length found footage movie since his debut, the wildly successful and influential The Blair Witch Project. It would make sense that he would eventually go back to the format that launched his career, and with a script by Jamie Nash, who wrote a segment of V/H/S/2 that Sanchez directed, it’s bound to have some kind of off-the-wall twist. While it certainly evokes a number of similar found footage and Bigfoot related films, Exists does feel unique when compared to many others. There had already been many found footage films about the creature even before this movie came out. It makes sense, since sightings of him are one of the things that made found footage a thing. But this one manages to stand out against all the others. I think a lot of it has to do with its focus on action over horror. While it does have plenty of scary moments, Sanchez also crafts some thrilling action sequences as Bigfoot chases the characters around the woods. There are many big moments with characters getting attacked and vehicles being pushed off cliffs followed by the creature jumping down onto them. It feels very bombastic when compared to most found footage films. It actually feels like the perfect opposite to The Blair Witch Project. That movie was built on very little, keeping its threats off camera as a way to get the audience scared. This movie, on the other hand, makes it clear right from the get-go what the threat is and doesn’t waist time before having it go after our leads. Though the creature still stays blurred on screen most of the time, we aren’t left in the dark about what it is and if it’s a real threat. Even if the story itself doesn’t take many surprising directions, there are a number of moments that feel like they’re trying to subvert the conventions of found footage. There are many meta-sounding one-liners that feel directed at the camera, and the film ends up concluding in a way that you probably won’t see coming. I won’t give it away, but it’s something that’s very different from what we’ve come to expect from these films. Exists is a fun and action packed return to found footage for Eduardo Sanchez. While it may not be that adventurous on the storytelling front, it shows that you can create a Bigfoot-centered story that feels different when compared to all the others. I’m hopeful that Sanchez will return to found footage again one day, after everything he’s done to make it what it is now. Rated R for language and some frightening moments.
Three men, Deacon (Gordon Kennedy), Grey (Robin Hill), and Father Mark (Aidan McArdle) are sent by the Vatican to a small English village. They are tasked with investigating a recently reopened church where a supposed miracle has taken place. Other mysterious phenomenon have gotten some concerned, so the three of them setup shop to try and find a rational explanation for all of it. As their investigation continues, they begin to draw the ire of the townsfolk, who believe the church is inhabited by evil. It turns out to not be far from the truth as they begin to encounter supernatural events within the church. They begin to uncover a dark past tied to the church, one that will put their faith to the test as they draw closer to the source behind its supposed miracle. Final Prayer, known internationally as The Borderlands, may have a familiar sounding premise on the surface. However, as the movie progresses, the film unveils a collection of fun and interesting twists that really keep you invested. It’s clear that director Elliot Goldner isn’t interested in making just another Paranormal Activity rip-off, even if some of his directorial choices seem to suggest that. In fact, the film’s central mystery is a very well constructed one. It’s hard to really pin down what direction the story is going to go next, and consistently pulls the rug out from under you on multiple occasions. There are many times when you think you know what’s coming, then something completely different happens. It’s rare to get a found footage movie that dares to do something unexpected. He also crafts a great arc for our team of protagonists, who all seem to be suffering from a crisis of faith at the start of it all, especially Deacon. He is someone who is fully convinced that religion has no basis in fact, and every kind of religious phenomenon has a rational explanation. As the three are confronted by increasingly supernatural forces, they have to realize that there are some things that just can’t be explained away. Goldner is also great at amping up the tension and making you feel unsettled. The main church and its surrounding areas are used to great effect, with a number of scare gags done in broad daylight and in ways that make you go, “wait, what?!” A lot of this comes from his perfect mix of visual and audio cues that make for some sequences that really get under your skin. It all leads to a conclusion that really sticks with you. The final few minutes are a masterclass in disturbing, almost upsetting horror that may just give you nightmares. It’s also impressive as it’s a conclusion that would seem impossible to make on a low budget, but Goldner manages to do it in a way that makes us unsure of what’s happening, yet ultimately terrified as a result. Final Prayer takes a familiar premise and spins it in a wildly subversive direction. It manages to keep you on your toes about what’s really going on, and is packed with so many little details that you need to watch it more than once to really get how much is going on. It really is a treat to get a found footage horror movie that has more on its mind than just being a cheap way to deliver scares to its audience. Rated R for language.
A group of best friends, Cassy (Laurel Casillo), Mark (Morgan Hooper), Tanya (Torrey Weise), and Leo (Ryan Maslyn) are on their way to celebrate their friend Miriam’s (Elyssa Mersdorf) birthday at her aunt’s house. They hope to make it the party of their lives. However, there’s one thing they probably didn’t expect. While on their way to the house, they catch the attention of a mysterious black van. It seemed like just a bit of road rage on the highway, until the van begins turning up at every rest stop they end up at, no matter how much distance they put between him and them. It’s clear that the driver is stalking them, and he has diabolical intentions with them that they won’t be able to escape. Evil Things is the directorial debut of Dominic Perez, a filmmaker who hasn’t done much since making it. The film itself is nothing all that original. It’s a basic cat-and-mouse setup that pits a group of forgettable characters against an unknown predator. There isn’t much in the way of innovation when it comes to the overall story. However, there’s something about Perez’s style that makes the film work despite its obvious limitations. There’s a quote from the director where, summing up, he says that it didn’t take him long to actually make the film, but it took him decades to realize he had the chops to make it in the first place. Determination like that really makes you see this movie in a whole new light. And in his defense, he does a great job actually shooting it. His use of the found footage style gives it a great look of authenticity. It really looks and feels like real footage shot by a group of friends. Not only that, but the cinematography work by the cast is some of the best for a low budget found footage thriller. The sets and environments are cool to look at and help add to the overall realism. There’s also the core cast that really do great jobs in their respective roles. They have a strong chemistry between them that make them feel like they really are friends. It also helps that they aren’t obnoxious or aren’t doing mean things to each other all the time. They are a bunch of good natured college students that we can root for when the real danger gets too close to them. Evil Things may not be the most original found footage thriller, but what director Dominic Perez lacks in story, he makes up for in technical genius. The film is very well shot and headlined by a cast of underdeveloped, yet ultimately likable kids. Even if his story isn’t all that unpredictable, it still has enough surprises to keep you invested even if you know what’s going to happen next. It’s little films like this that make aspiring filmmakers like me hopeful in our potential. Rated R for bloody horror violence and language.
Barcelona news reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) is covering the nightly activities of a local fire station for her network. They’re hoping to capture exciting action during their time there. All appears to be quiet and uneventful for the most part, that is until the team they’re shadowing gets the call they’ve been waiting for. They’re taken to an apartment complex, where the residents have reported an elderly woman screaming for help. They make it into her apartment, but find her bleeding and hysterical. It isn’t long before they all find themselves trapped inside the building by the Spanish government, with a mysterious and deadly virus spreading amongst them, turning them into crazed killers. They’ll have to face their darkest fears if they want to make it out alive. From Spain, REC is the film that severed as the inspiration for the 2008 found footage film Quarantine. Though the explanation of the virus and some of the characters are different, the two films are pretty much identical, right down to even the basic shots used throughout. While the American version is a well made film, the Spanish original has a lot more personality. This mostly comes down to its final twist. I’m not going to give anything away, but the explanation of the disease is very different from what the American version changed it to. It actually stands out more with the original explanation, as it is something that feels more unique. It may end up feeling more divisive amongst viewers, but at least it feels like the filmmakers put more effort into making something original. The filmmakers also do a better job of making the film feel more realistic than the remake. This comes from the filmmakers using a real apartment building as apposed to building one on a soundstage. There’s a lot more limited space because of this, and this helps to create tension in the story. You never know what’s going to be around the corner, and in the this film, the corners are much tighter. The film is also elevated by the work of the main cast. Manuela Velasco is really a reporter in real life, and that helps to bring a layer of reality to the character of Ángela. But she also does a really good job portraying the character, really embodying the fear required for the situation. Same goes for the rest of the cast, who were all lesser known performers, but do excellent jobs in each of their respective roles. Quarantine is a remake with the mentality of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That makes sense when viewing REC, a great example of how to get the most potential out of your premise. What may seem like a standard zombie flick at first quickly becomes its own thing with loads of surprises within its dark corridors. Rated PG-13 for brief language and some terror.
Best friends Jake (Josh Stewart) and Tony (Skipp Sudduth) are determined to gain fame and fortune. To get it, they’ve decided to create their own hunting reality show. Armed with a variety of weapons and video recording devices, the two head out to a friend’s house to film their pilot episode in the middle of a desolate woods. But all their hunting skills can’t prepare them for what really lies outside. As they continue their hunt, they begin to experience strange phenomenon that isn’t just an animal in the woods. They find themselves stalked by a seemingly supernatural presence, one that correlates with an urban legend tied to the area. Will they be able to make it out alive, or will the urban legend get the better of them? As the feature directorial debut of actor Josh Stewart, The Hunted isn’t all that adventurous of a film. However, for his first film, Stewart shows that he certainly has potential. He does a great job taking a familiar concept and wringing some very effective scares out of it. A lot of this comes from the sound design. The movie is able to really get under your skin with some creepy sound effects. They help to build the overall tension of the story, leading up to a third act that really gets you on the edge of your seat and will even have you jumping a few times. It’s also Stewart’s direction that helps the tension. He has a great knowledge of how to use the found footage concept to great effect. Many of his directorial decisions do a great job of keeping the true threat mostly off camera. He also toys with the various kinds of recording equipment in ways that implies the presence of something otherworldly without ever showing it. He effectively puts you off as a result. Stewart and his co-star Skipp Sudduth are also quite dynamic in the lead roles. They’re a pair of likable lead characters who have a good amount of chemistry between each other. You really get the sense that they’ve been friends for many years, and that helps us connect and identify with them when the spooky stuff starts amping up. The Hunted isn’t the most original found footage film, but director Josh Stewart manages to make it feel like its own thing. He shows that he has the chops to use found footage correctly, playing squarely to what has always made it terrifying. It all leads to a conclusion that may not be too unpredictable, but may get you jumping out of your seat. Rated R for a scene of sexuality, and brief gruesome images.
For the Palmer family, life is pretty grim. Their daughter Alice (Talia Zucker) has recently died while swimming in her town’s local dam. They aren’t really sure what led to this, and are starting to question if they really knew her. After her death, the family has begun to experience what appears to be supernatural encounters with Alice’s ghost. Is she trying to reach out to her family from beyond the grave? That’s what a documentary crew following the family is trying to find out. The family is desperate for answers, and they’re determined to get them no matter what. But as they all start to dig deeper into Alice’s past, they come to learn that there was more to Alice than they originally thought, and the question soon becomes, “is Alice’s spirit trying to deliver a warning to those she loves?” Now here’s an example of a found footage movie that really takes advantage of its limited resources. Lake Mungo, the feature debut of Australian filmmaker Joel Anderson, does a great job of brining a unique spin to its familiar concept. Instead of making the supernatural elements a threat to our main characters, they are instead used to help elevate its central messages about grief. This movie really feels more like a supernatural drama than a full fledged horror film. It’s more about solving the mystery of Alice’s death over trying to figure out if the sightings of her ghost are real. It’s a personal story that cares more about the characters and their development. Anderson is more interested in talking about the difficulties of grief rather than scaring his audience. However, that doesn’t mean the movie isn’t scary. It is technically still a horror film, and Anderson knows how to create some very terrifying scenes. The cameras used to try and capture Alice’s spirit produce some genuinely unsettling images that really get under your skin. The mere sight of a figure standing in the background of a static image is enough to really put you off. The film’s deeper character moments are elevated by the performances of the core cast. The Palmer family is made up entirely of unknown actors, which really helps to add to the realism. They look and feel like a real family, and they have a great chemistry between each other that make them feel real as well. It’s easy to connect to them and identify with what they’re going through. Lake Mungo is a unique and mediative study about recovering from grief and tragedy, but still has plenty of terrifying moments. Director Joel Anderson does a great job of using his limitations to his advantage and crafts a story that gives no easy answers to its many questions, but offers full closure in the end. If you’re looking for something different within the found footage genre, then this is definitely one to seek out. Not Rated (Contains Disturbing Violence and Terror and Language Throughout)
As the Halloween season approaches, best friends Brandy (Brandy Schaefer), Zack (Zack Andrews), Bobby (Bobby Roe), Mikey (Mikey Roe), and Jeff (Jeff Larson) are on a mission. They set off in an RV with a collection of film cameras with the intention of making a documentary about haunted houses around the country. They are determined to find the most extreme haunts out there. As they move from place to place, the level of realism in the haunts begins to go up. Their journey takes them to attractions that seek to really push the limit on what scares a person. This draws the attention of a few mysterious figures that seem to be stalking the group, including an enigmatic group that promises to give the most extreme haunt experience. Will their goal be more than they can handle? The haunted house premise seems to be quite packed with potential. While Hell House LLC took a more supernatural approach to the idea, The Houses October Built is more grounded in reality. It intends to show the horrors of what people are capable of rather than ghostly forces. And to some degree, that idea is scarier than a paranormal threat, especially with all the haunted house attractions that really push the limit on the amount of fear you can inflict on a person. That’s how the movie gets its frights. Much like the attractions that try to blend fantasy and reality, the movie does the same. It had its origins as an actual documentary shot at real haunted house locations. The filmmakers then shot fictional sequences, and they manage to successfully blend the real and the unreal together, making it hard to tell if the movie is real or not. It also does a great job building on its own central mystery. For much of the runtime, it’s hard to pinpoint the kind of characters the team comes across. One particular scare actor, a woman dressed in a porcelain doll outfit, shows up out of the blue in various locations hundreds of miles apart. You’re never quite sure if their just scare actors or genuine killers out to get them. By not giving the audience any clear answers, the movie is able to really get under your skin. It actually does a great job tackling its subject on what scares us and how far some people are willing to go to get that thrill. People like me are concerned that some are growing too numb to frightening situations, which could make them unable to recognize a true threat. It also shows how some people try to blur the line between being that threat and just giving their patrons a good scare. The Houses October Built is a nice little slice of Halloween fun, using its admittedly familiar premise to its advantage. It does a great job of blending fiction and reality to really hammer home its messages about what some people do to get scared and how the blurring of that line can be dangerous. If you’re looking for something about haunting houses outside of the Hell House series, then this will definitely get you into the spirit. Not Rated (Contains Disturbing Images, Violence, and Language Throughout)
After multiple people go missing in and around the Abaddon Hotel, the town of Abaddon has had enough. It’s evil forces have had a strangle hold on the town ever since its founding, and now that the Hell House crew and Jessica Fox’s team of journalists all met violent ends, the town has voted to tear it down once and for all. That is, until it is bought by wealthy media mogul Russell Wynn (Gabriel Chytry). He intends to use the hotel as the set of his famous interactive show based on the classic German tale of Faust. Journalist Vanessa (Elizabeth Vermilyea) arrives to cover the new production at the hotel. As the new crew sets thing up, the supernatural forces slowly begin to show themselves once again. It becomes clear that Russell knows more than he’s letting on, and it’s up to Vanessa to connect the dots and figure out how the events of the first two films play a part in a much bigger plan. After a second chapter that had fun moments but went in a more conventional direction, Hell House III: Lake of Fire returns to the mysterious elements of the first film. We’re thrown back into an attraction that has set up shop in the dangerous hotel. Unlike the mission to find the evidence where we kind of knew what was going to happen, now we have a story where we aren’t too certain. And this makes it an improvement over the first film. While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the first film, it manages to stand on its own more so than the second film did. It has its own contained story that, even if you haven’t seen the first one, gives you enough information to know what’s going on. Probably the biggest highlight of the film is the performance of Chytry as Russell Wynn. He really nails his role as this mysterious business guy that no one really knows much about. He does a good job keeping you on your toes about what his true motivations are and what side he really stands on. You never really get a clear idea throughout, and it’s his performance that keeps you guessing. Once again, director Stephen Cognetti does a great job creating effective scares and tense atmosphere out of very little. He still uses the hotel’s foreboding design to his advantage and manages to craft some more jolts that can really get under your skin. It’s thanks to the mix of new sets for Russell’s show combined with the old props left by the Hell House crew that make the scares as good as they are. You have to admire the amount of risks he took when crafting the film’s bonkers final act. Without giving anything away, he takes a really big swing, and for the low budget he has, you’ve got to appreciate what he was willing to do to subvert your expectations. While some may find it too over-the-top in an understandable way, at least he tried to put some imagination into his story. Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire does a great job bringing a close to the story of the Abaddon Hotel and its evil inhabitants. It may not reach the heights of the film that started it all, but Cognetti stays more in touch with that film than he did with the second. It makes for a much more thrilling film held together by the pitch perfect performance of Gabriel Chytry, and brings all the trilogy’s lingering plot threads to a satisfying end. |
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