Found footage horror doesn’t get much worse than Paranormal Asylum: The Revenge of Typhoid
Mary (2013). Two film makers on
their last effort to do something with their careers decide to do a documentary
on the legendary Typhoid Mary. As their
investigation delves deeper and they come across more people that seem to be
connected to Mary who spent time in an asylum and was subject to psychotropic drugs,
their own sanity seems to falter as reality seems to slowly drift away.
Written by Fred Edison there isn’t much in this film that
hasn’t been done in other found footage films only this film is more overt by
giving glows and halos to people and having the video footage flicker
constantly. This all actually takes you
out of the “reality” of the film (the opposite affect mind you that these style
films should thrive for). The film also
suffers from subpar acting that you never believe come from real people but
just bad actors. This is actually really
common with found footage indie films that believe that inexperienced and young
actors can carry a film. What these
films actually require are the best actors that can act like “real” people.
The biggest travesty of the film is the uninteresting
characters that can’t carry the film which is what a found footage film
desperately needs. As directed by Nimrod
Zalmanowitz the film suffers from relying too much on the “jump scare” rather
than creating a truly creepy atmosphere, so, it plays for the lowest common
denominator and will only appeal to that (small) audience.
There are plenty of better films out there that you can
spend time with rather than this dud.
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