Film Review: WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (2013)

There is a lot to be said about the ‘80s and especially in regards to Halloween Specials on TV before the Internet, social media, and cell phones.  The average horror fan would huddle around this year’s Halloween Special and get their kicks while eating candy and drinking soda.  This is the atmosphere that the film WNUF Halloween Special (2013) which does it’s best to evoke that spirit through a VHS recording.  It seems that someone has found a long thought lost recording of the 1987 live broadcast of the WNUF Halloween Special.

 

While delivering the weather and other relevant news it seems that the big news of the night is the fact that WNUF is broadcasting a live broadcast of reporters, news crew,  a paranormal investigative husband and wife (a dead homage to Ed and Loraine Warren), and a priest, for good measure into a murder house while people stand outside and cheer and even more sit at home glued to the TV screen.

 

To add to the aesthetic are the commercials, news updates, and everything else you’d see during a regular program (although someone else fast-forwards through the commercials they don’t want to see while allowing us to watch others.

 

Anyone who grew up in the ‘80s with the VHS revolution and mixed cassette tapes will enjoy this film as it is one of the most authentic found footage films that have ever depicted this time period.  Although it may come off as slow to modern day audiences who grew up with cell phones, the internet, and social media, this is film that both fans of found footage and the ‘80s will find plenty to enjoy.

Film Review: CONFESSIONAL (2019)

 

After two college students commit suicide on the same day, seven fellow students with ties to the two are forced to reveal their deep and dark secrets in a confessional booth in the thriller Confessional (2019) from director Brad T. Gottfred.  Someone is manipulating these seven college students with proof of blackmail to get them into a confessional booth surrounded by cameras and they are unable to escape.  Each person, now isolated, is forced to open up to a candid conversation about their two friends that killed themselves because their captor doesn’t believe that they committed suicide but that all seven of the captors had something to do with the “murders.”

 

The single location story lets up the completely ludicrous situation and set up but it looks good while doing it.  It seems that their captor is filming everything and also has incriminating evidence against each of them so if they don’t tell the truth they will face the consequences which can turn lethal.

 

The film itself can be seen as a modern take on the found footage tropes that have been established in films over the last couple decades but the captor gives a reason for filming the subjects and why the film itself exists.  Unfortunately, the concept wears itself thin very soon despite the many twists and turns in the script which is where the magic of editing comes into play.  As one character starts to get boring and less interesting it cuts between characters because there are definitely some stories that are more interesting than others.  The good thing is that the entire film does come together by the end with an interesting and surprising amount of revelations.

 

This being said, some audience members may tire of the film before they get to the end.  Written by Jennifer Wolfe a lot of millage is dragged out of the concept which would’ve been better serviced by a much shorter run time but if you’re not a fan of found footage films then this film will not change your mind about the genre.

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "WHO LOVES FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS?"

The found footage genre took off with a bang with the original release of The Blair Witch Project (1999) but then became the sub-genre that allowed no and low budget films and filmmakers to thrive with most of the results less than exemplary.  Now, for general audiences (and most horror fans) found footage films are a lost cause whose time has passed with most people thinking the genre never really achieved anything great passed the Blair Witch but I’m here to say that there have been plenty of great found footage films and there still continues to be great films produced.  Now, the conventions which were originated with the Blair Witch have become cliché but that does not mean that there is not still enough fuel left in the genre’s fire.

 

Many may not be aware of this but the first, and still the most harrowing, found footage film was Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which jump started the cannibal genre instead of an early version of the found footage.  It is more infamous for real animal cruelty and controversy than it is for being a film about a professor who is task with going over the found footage of a documentary crew.  It is an aesthetic that would later show up in Welcome to the Jungle (2007) and the non-found footage film The Green Inferno (2013).   Another early classic was Man Bites Dog (1992), one of my personal favorites that gained greater appreciation after the genre became popular.

 

Before the Blair Witch Project there was the similar film The Last Broadcast (1998) but that film was less successful due to many issues one of which was less interesting characters and bad editing.  For the next several years there were no films of note as the genre was quickly forgotten and Blair Witch, by many, had been seen as a one hit wonder.  Then 2005 hit and the rest of the ‘00s became littered with found footage films.  The next major found footage hit with mainstream audiences was Cloverfield (2008) but before that you had some small screen success stories with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) (one of my personal favorites) but there was also [REC] (2007) and its American remake Quarantine (2008), American Zombie (2007), and  Brutal Massacre: A Comedy (2008) not to mention the fact that celebrated zombie director George A. Romero unleashed his Diary of the Dead (2007).  The rest of the ‘00s saw the release of The Fourth Kind (2009), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) (depending upon when you were able to get a bootleg of this film) and the true king of the found footage genre Paranormal Activity (2007).  This film crossed over to audiences of all ages scaring up $193 million worldwide.  This was not as much as The Blair Witch Project (which managed $248.6 million worldwide) but it spawned an entire franchise, something that never caught on with the Blair Witch.

 

To date there are seven films in the franchise!  Included are Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), and the Japanese spin-off Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010).  There is also an untitled new film in the works!  I actually like most of the films in this series and thought Part 4 was the weakest and Part 3 and The Marked Ones being my favorites but the thing that makes this franchise successful is the fact that they all inter connect and feed into each other and the larger story and universe (something the SAW franchise also did extremely well).  A lot of found footage films fail because the characters are not interesting, and neither is the story being told but this franchise manages to keep audiences engaged and connected to the characters throughout each instalment.

 

The ‘10s were a mixed bag of releases as this is when the genre really began to stretch itself way to thin not only in terms of stories to mine but also believability.  There are some true clunkers like Chernobyl Diaries (2012), The Pyramid (2014), Phoenix Forgotten (2017), The Frankenstein Theory (2013), Devil’s Due (2014), and The Devil Inside (2012), to name but a few, but there are also some gems like As Above, So Below (2014), Trollhunter (2010), Creep (2014), Creep 2 (2017), The Bay (2012), The Sacrament (2013), Digging Up the Marrow (2014), The Visit (2015), and The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).  Some of my personal favorites were What We Do in the Shadows (2014), The Last Exorcism (2010), Grave Encounters (2011) and its sequel (2012), Frankenstein’s Army (2013), Apollo 18 (2011), Europa Report (2013), and the entire [REC] franchise.  Some of the films I enjoyed but seem to have split audiences were The Gallows (2015), Willow Creek (2013), Exists (2014), The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), and the eventual sequel Blair Witch (2016), to name a few.

 

I was happy to see the found footage genre take on the anthology format most successfully with V/H/S (2012) and its sequels V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S: Viral (2014).  This was at the height of the found footage popularity with horror fans but by this time general audiences had tired of the genre.  Films like Devil’s Due ($36 million worldwide), The Gallows ($42 million worldwide) , The Devil Inside ($101 million worldwide), As Above, So Below ($41.8 million worldwide) and others were all amazingly successful at the Box Office due to low budgets and huge returns.  The problem is that the aesthetics of the genre were becoming too predictable and frankly most audiences hated the abrupt endings to the films due to the fact that the person holding the camera dies and that’s the end of the film.

 

The genre needed to redefine itself and that is where the film Unfriended (2014) comes in.  It uses computer technology and social media such as the ability to group chat to spin an otherwise typical ghost story among friends.  This was huge final success bringing in over $62.8 million worldwide on a budget of about $1 million!  It quickly spanned (in my opinion) a better sequel in Unfriended: Dark Web (2018) which was still successful but did only a fraction that the original did with $16.02 million worldwide (on a $1 million budget).  The genre also got self-referential (i.e. Scream) with the entertaining but polarizing film Found Footage 3D (2016), which acknowledges all the faults of the genre as it shows a film crew trying to make a found footage film.  One of the more recent films that I enjoyed was the South Korean film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) as it is always nice to see how other countries and cultures take on the found footage genre.

 

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a different type of found footage film which gives new meaning and themes to play with which is exemplified in the film Host (2020), where a group on friends forced to social distance decide to do a group activity together which is a séance to talk to the dead.  Needless to say, that the séance does not go as planned and people start to die.  I really enjoyed this film as it had something new to say especially in the current times that we all find ourselves in.

 

Like any sub-genre of horror there will be lots of films that just don’t make the grade and it is unfortunate that since many filmmakers saw this genre as an easy way to make a film (i.e. no name actors, limited camera, low budget, easy to edit, etc.) but they forgot that the most important thing is that you need compelling characters with an interesting story and journey that needs to be told.  Telling a convincing and compelling found footage film is just as hard, if not harder, than telling a conventional film story in a conventional manner.  There are some amazing found footage films and I have to agree that the ratio of bad to good is pretty damn high (for every single film I’ve mentioned there are at least 10 really bad ones that I’ve seen that I didn’t mention).  I watch found footage films because I love the genre and I’ve managed to find those diamonds in the rough and I hope that horror fans take a look at some of the films I’ve mentioned above and give the genre another look and another chance as it is a shame to dismiss the entire genre just because you happen to have seen a handful that were just not that good.

 

The ‘80s and ‘90s were littered with extremely bad slasher films and the same can be said of the found footage genre in the ‘00s and ‘10s, or for that matter any horror genre that helped define a decade or a time in horror history.

 

 

Film Review: SUICIDE GIRLS MUST DIE! (2010)

It is time for a weekend photo and filming shoot with all the Suicide Girls and you are all invited in the film Suicide Girls Must Die! (2010).  The Suicide Girls are off to a secluded place to shoot photos for their calendar as well as shoot behind the scenes footage.  Each of the girls are given a camera to film everything throughout the weekend.  Unfortunately, what should have been an innocent weekend of fun for each of the girls turns into murder and mayhem as there is someone out there killing the girls one by one. 

Written by Brian Fagan and directed by Sarah Remetch (Sawa Suicide) the film comes off as a reality Big Brother via Suicide Girls as alliances are created and friendships are destroyed as everyone suspects everyone.

If you are not a fan of found footage films then this film may not appeal to you as it plays up everything that you would expect without adding anything new to the genre.  This being said, there is nudity and the makeup FX are good, but some people may be turned away by the constant bickering of the girls especially in the final act.

Going in, I was not expecting too much but I was overall entertained despite not being a fan or knowing a lot about the Suicide Girls brand to begin with.

Film Review: CREEP 2 (2017)

Writer/Director Patrick Brice and writer/star Mark Duplass return to craft the next chapter in their found footage/serial killer saga CREEP 2 (2017) in which we find our serial killer now calling himself Aaron (Duplass) now turning forty and in the middle of a mid-life crisis as he doesn’t know what to now do with his life.  At the end of the previous film he killed the real Aaron, an inspiration to him but he now films his killing spree to be more like a regular job instead of the fun hobby it’s supposed to be.

Sara (Desiree Akhavan) is an internet personality who has lost all inspiration for her show Encounters which is on its last leg.  Both Sara and Aaron are at a cross roads when Aaron hits on the idea of doing a documentary film in which he can reveal his true nature in front of the camera and show the world his true nature.  Sara answers his ad to film his story seeing it as the wake-up call she needs to jump start her career again.  Now, two people who have lost their inspirations will find it together in this twisted and imaginative sequel.

 This is a more interesting film since it is revealed right away to Sara that Aaron is a serial killer; she just doesn’t believe him and even though she comes to learn that he is eccentric and at times a “diva” she still finds him a captivating subject that she just can’t get away from.  In turn, Aaron finds Sara interesting because she is the first person where he’s truly been able to be himself and not hide behind all the fake personae that he’s created to justify his horrific actions.

This film has a lot going for it and is a much better film than the previous film in terms of story and execution and its truly chilling to see Duplass revel in the role of the misunderstood serial killer.  I hope they continue this fascinating franchise about the inner workings of a serial killer.

Film Review: CREEP (2014)

Jason Blum and Mark Duplass produce the found footage film CREEP (2014).  Duplass does triple duty as writer and star (along with Patrick Brice) in this film in which Joseph (Duplass) is a man dying and wants someone to film his story for his surviving child.  Aaron finds Joseph’s online inquiry and immediately takes the opportunity which will help him out financially.

Immediately upon meeting Joseph, Aaron thinks that there just isn’t something right with Joseph as he’s a bit eccentric and that not everything he’s telling Joseph adds up.  When Aaron’s car keys go missing he is forced to stay the night at Joseph’s house and things get even more strange prompting Aaron to get out of there as soon as possible.  But escaping Joseph’s house is just the start of Aaron’s problem as he soon learns that Joseph knows everything about him and been stalking him thinking that they are best friends.  Now Aaron must figure out how to handle Joseph’s unwanted friendship before things get really out of hand amid mounting danger.

The whole film is shot as if it was from Aaron’s camera as part of Joseph’s video but once Aaron leave’s Joseph it becomes Aaron’s way of coping with the strange situation he finds himself in and a document of what is really going on.  Duplass does an excellent job crafting a unique and creepy character while Brice’s Aaron is the every man. 

The film may not keep you on the edge of your seat in a suspenseful way but it more than makes up for it in terms of the “creep” factor so if that is the type of film you’re looking for then this one is it.

Film Review: OPEN WATER 3: CAGE DIVE (2017)

The latest sequel in the ever-expanding franchise OPEN WATER: CAGE DIVE (2017) finds two brothers Jeff and Josh (Joel Hogan and Josh Potthoff, respectfully) and their friend Megan (Megan Peta Hill) decide that the most daring thing for them to do for an audition tape for a reality TV show is to go cage diving with real sharks.  While on the open seas with a couple dozen other daring enthusiasts, a freak wave capsizes their boat causing them to be stuck out in the open ocean in shark infested waters.  Now they must find a way to stay alive until they are rescued with not only deadly sharks still roaming around but lethal secrets that may test all of their friendships.

Written and directed by Gerald Rascionato this film retains the “found footage” style of the previous two films but little else.  Despite having some amazing cinematography from Rascionato and Andrew Bambach, the film’s filled with two-dimensional characters that are not all that interesting and it’s a travesty that the Megan character is a cliché of a woman doing and making all the bad decisions (and down right stupid in some instances) that puts them all in even more danger.

As sequels go, the “found footage” genre should disappear for a few years so that the conventions can be later re-invented as this film offers nothing new or interesting for either the genre itself or fans of these types of films.  Only those that have been sticking with the franchise need bother with this latest entry.

Film Review: RE-KILL (2015)

It’s been five years since the Re-Animates (better known as zombies) outbreak and the world has tried to move on from the decimation of most of the world’s population.  It is up to the military’s R-Division to handle the Re-Animates when there is a problem and the film crew of Re-Kill (2015) to film it.  In a world where zombies almost out number humans the members of R-Division are task with keeping the public aware of the fight against the undead. 

Told from the perspective of a “live” television show (complete with commercials and ads) the program Re-Kill is all about getting into the mind of the soldiers on the front lines before and after their deaths in real life (as most of them die in combat).

The film is written by Michael Hurst and directed by Valeri Milev and it is a film that horror fans will enjoy.  It has enough horror, gore, and zombie action to satisfy even the most jaded.  Even the style of the “found footage” or “reality show” style won’t deter you from enjoying this film as it plays like a war film on zombie crack.  The make-up FX are excellent and the action sequences are fierce and numerous.

If there is one thing working against the films, it’s that you never really get into the heads of any of the soldiers except for maybe one but then that also works in the film’s favor as you never know who is going to live or die which is the element you want in a good horror film.  A film I recommend for fans of zombie films.

Film Review: MOCKINGBIRD (2014)

I kind of expected something more from producer Jason Blum but the film Mockingbird (2014) does follow into the footprints of many of his other films like Sinister (2012), Insidious (2010), and The Gallows (2015), to name a few.   Mockingbird follows a couple, a woman, and a geek shut-in who have been forced into playing a sick game by an unseen person.  They are given cameras that do not turn off and forced to film everything that happens to them or they will die.  Now this might sound like an interesting idea but the execution has a lot to be desired. 

The geek shut in is the only person who actually enjoys what he is told to do by the unknown “puppet master” because to him it is a game and that he has a handful of tasks that he must do over the course of the night in order to win, namely dressing up as a clown.  Because it’s a Blum production, the found footage aspect of the film works better than in most.  The story is by Bryan Bertino and   It’s also competently directed with some creative production touches but is otherwise an uninteresting film.

Sam Esmail (with the screenplay written by Bertino alone who also directs).

I actually wanted to like the film as it had an interesting concept of people being forced to do things that that otherwise wouldn’t do but none of the characters are interesting so I kind of tuned out after a while.  Easily one of Blum’s lesser films but he’s produced enough found footage films that this one can easily be overlooked.