31 Days of Horror: The Gallows

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Thursday Movie Picks: Found Footage Movies

In 2009, the blog Dell on Movies began. In October of 2014, Dell disappeared under mysterious circumstances. This post is all that remains...

Okay, not quite. However, that is how many "Found Footage" movies begin. That type of prologue is supposed to put us "there." We're to feel that what we're watching is real. Ideally, this would heighten whatever feelings the movie might achieve without the tactic. Most often, it's put to use in the horror genre which is perfect for what's going on, here. 

What's going on is another installment of Thursday Movie Picks hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. I've had a great time participating in this weekly series and encourage you to join. Each week, bloggers are asked to recommend three movies based on a theme selected by her. Check out her sit for the rest of the rules.

Of course, this week's theme is Found Footage movies.

Though they existed before, they really rose to prominence after the unbelievable success of The Blair Witch Project. I think that's a wildly overrated film, but that's beside the point. The point is that mixed into a genre with lots of duds, there have been a few gems. The movies below aren't necessarily the very best of FFs, but the best ones that can call themselves horror movies.

Cloverfield

(2008)

What if some regular folks were caught in the middle of an attack on New York City by a gigantic monster? And what if they filmed their whole dangerous adventure? That, my friends would be Cloverfield. After an opening that drags a bit too long, things kick into high gear as the monster begins tearing shit up. It's just a fun ride that manages to maintain an air of mystery by wisely not explaining much. (Click here for my full review)

Paranormal Activity

(2009)

Sure, the way too many sequels vary wildly in quality. In fact, we'll take a look at one of them before the month is out. We'll also look at a spoof of it, as well. However, the original stands as a testament to what the genre could be. The performances feel the most natural of the series and the movie as a whole is unsettling, particularly if you watch it at home in the dark. (Click here for my full review)

Troll Hunter

(2010)

This time it's a group of Norwegian college kids who have left behind the footage. They actually set out to find out who is killing off all the bears in the country's forest and find themselves following gigantic and very angry trolls. The creatures are beautifully rendered, by the way. Of my three choices, this is the only one that flew below most people's radar, perhaps because it is not American, but is well worth it if you get a chance. (Click here for my full review)

Click here for more Thursday Movie Picks.

V/H/S

Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, “Radio Silence.”

2012. Rated R, 116 minutes.

Cast:

Calvin Reeder

Adam Wingard

Kentucker Audley

Sarah Byrne

Hannah Fierman

Mike Donlan

Frank Stack

A group of wayward twenty-somethings are having fun filming themselves attacking women in parking garages and forcefully exposing their breasts to the camera. Their mothers must be proud. Anyhoo, sales of these videos aren't as lucrative as they’d like. One of them knows about a VHS tape they would be paid handsomely for. Of course, they have to break into someone’s house and steal it. Once there, they discover a dead body and an extensive library of unmarked videotapes to rummage through, spread throughout the house. Of course, only one of these bozos has enough sense to press play on the VCR, even though the TV is already on. While his buddies are digging around in the various piles of tapes, he sits and watches. We watch along with occasional breaks to see how the boys are doing.

Essentially, V/H/S is a collection of vignettes whose only link is that they appear to be on the same tape and that one of the characters is watching them. On top of that, what’s going on in the house where he and his buddies are amounts to another vignette. Therefore, looking for a unifying theme is pointless, unless you count the fact that they’re all twisted. At that, each succeeds. To achieve this we get a vampire (something like a vampire), aliens, and “regular” folk.

Surprisingly, almost all of the shorts work wonderfully. None of them have a plot, per se, they’re more like little slices of the end of life. Very bloody, violent ends. As stated, they’re mostly bent on making you use some variation of the phrase “that’s messed up,” and they do.

Perhaps most notable is that it manages to put a new spin on the found footage sub-genre. Like all the rest of these type of movies, it’s heavily influenced by The Blair Witch Project.” It marries this with its love for other anthologies to give us something that feels fresh and completely unrestrained. Each vignette stretches long enough so we’re never quite sure where things are going. When they get there, our inner sadists will be quite pleased.

MY SCORE: 7/10

Chronicle

Troll Hunter

Directed by André Øvredal.

2010. Rated PG-13, 103 minutes.

Cast:

Otto Jespersen

Glenn Erland Tosterud

Johanna Mǿrck

Tomas Alf Larsen

Urmila Berg-Domaas

Hans Morten-Hansen

Robert Stoltenberg

We’re told immediately that we’re watching a film that was made by selecting the scenes to follow from 283 hours of video. Not only that, but the people who pored over it also spent over a year trying to figure if this was genuine or all part of some elaborate hoax. They have determined it to be authentic. Yay, more found footage horror. Sarcasm.

The folks that left behind this particular footage are a small group of Norwegian college students filming a documentary about the havoc that bears are wreaking in the counry’s forest and mountain areas and the people who hunt them. We learn the government only licenses a select few to target bears and, as you might imagine, they are a tight knit group. They’re also pretty pissed that bears are being gunned down with none of them behind the trigger. A mysterious guy who lives in a smelly camper and only goes out at night is the main suspect. They all believe he’s a poacher. Of course, the college kids start hounding him for an interview and following him after dark. Pretty soon they find out it isn’t bears that are causing all the trouble or that the bearded man is hunting. It’s trolls.

Hans (Jespersen) is the bearded man’s name and he quickly tells us that these trolls aren’t like the ones we’ve read about in fairy tales. These are huge, snarling, not very intelligent beasts that eat whatever they can get their hands on. They’ve been quarantined to certain sections around the country. Hans’ task is to find out why so many are leaving these areas and to kill any wayward trolls. He’s been doing this job for a really long time and doesn’t like it much these days. He invites the kids to tag along, so long as none of them are Christians. This part of the fairy tale is true: trolls can smell the blood of Christian men and it sends them into a frenzy. They assure him they aren’t and away we go.

The trolls themselves are what makes this different from most movies in the found-footage sub-genre. There is really no attempt to hide them and build suspense from the wait. Instead, we see them pretty clearly throughout the picture. The key is that there are a number of different types. That way, we’re consistently seeing something new as the movie progresses. Additionally, they’re also mindlessly aggressive toward whatever is in their path. Often enough, it’s our cast in harm’s way creating a palpable sense of danger. With all of the troll action taking place at night, the special fx work beautifully, adding to the idea that we’re really seeing gigantic monsters rampaging in the woods, or in caves.

Another big plus is our troll hunter. Otto Jespersen plays Hans perfectly straight. He exudes the weariness he professes. We really feel like he’s a guy that’s been doing a thankless job forever and is desperately searching for a way out. It’s a subtle, yet effective performance. The rest of the cast is adequate, but not enthralling. Mǿrck who plays Johanna is a possible exception as she is a shade better than the others.

As found footage flicks go, Troll Hunter is a solid adventure. A few very tense scenes help it live up to the horror label. Truthfully though, it’s more fun than it is scary. That in itself isn’t really a problem. The problem is by now we’ve seen more than a few of these types of movies. The ending feels pre-ordained within a few moments of the start. This makes it hard for us to generate the empathy necessary to really get us vested in these people. We already know how they end up. Thankfully, watching them get there is a good time.

MY SCORE: 7/10

Paranormal Activity 3

Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

2011. Rated R, 84 minutes.
Cast:

Chris Smith

Lauren Bittner

Chloe Csengery

Jessica Tyler Brown

Hallie Foote

Dustin Ingram

Johanna Braddy

Brian Boland

Katie Featherston

Sprague Grayden

As we’ve been warned, the events of Paranormal Activity and its sequel are only part of a lifetime dealing with things that go bump in the night. So it’s no surprise that the third installment in this haunted house franchise is a prequel. We journey back to 1988, in the midst of the troubled childhoods of Katie (Csengery) and Kristi (Brown). The two sisters share a room upstairs in a pretty open house; their room doesn’t have a full wall and looks out over the lower level of the house. As little girls are wont to do, Kristi has an imaginary friend named Toby. Well, at least everyone else in the house thinks he’s imaginary. After about 10 minutes of movie time, Katie and mom Julie (Bittner) still think so, but stepdad Dennis (Smith) isn’t so sure. See, like apparently every man that has ever come into contact with the girls, he’s set up cameras all over the house. Now, when the things in the night go bumping, he can watch it on video the next day.

Like with the first two movies in the series, the aim is to draw you in, piling up little scares along the way until you’re wholly unsettled then bombard you with a furious and creepy finish. The technique is actually solid and the climax is indeed fun in a twisted way. I suspect it may be enough for people to consider it a really good horror flick. After all, the franchise is known for and built upon its finales. They are what keeps us coming back for the next Paranormal Activity.

Unfortunately, each installment works best if you haven’t seen either of the others. Without automatically recalling the two films just like it, the one you’re watching can be more effective on you. This is because if you’re familiar with the franchise then the setup and execution are both overly familiar to you. During the day, people argue about whether or not they have ghosts as house guests. After everyone goes to bed, there are all sorts of strange noises, inanimate objects moving by themselves and odd behavior by one of the characters who, of course, is unaware of what they’re doing. It is an effective formula seen once, less so on the second go-round and a little less than that this time around. It’s simply a victim of the law of diminishing returns. This is why horror franchise often give up trying to scare us and become parodies of themselves. Being repeatedly manipulated in the same exact manner cannot continue to be scary. To its credit, Paranormal Activity 3 refuses to go down that road. However admirable sticking to its haunted guns might be, it fails to up the fright factor.

MY SCORE: 5/10

Quarantine

Directed by John Eric Dowdle.
2008. Rated R, 89 minutes.

Cast:

Jennifer Carpenter

Steve Harris

Jay Hernandez

Columbus Short

Johnathon Schaech

Andrew Fiscella

Dania Ramirez

While following around the firefighters at a local station, young reporter Angela (Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott (Harris) find themselves trapped in an apartment building where some of the tenants seem to have contracted a disease that literally transforms them into homicidal maniacs.

It gives its intended audience what they came for. We get lots of gore, screaming and running. The one twist on this works out nicely. That twist is the last 10 or so minutes of the movie being shown via the camera's night vision setting. This heightens any tension the movie has because we realize the good guys can't see what's in the dark room with them.

What if Cloverfield were a zombie movie instead of a giant monster movie? The answer to that question is Quarantine. It follows that exact template. The entire thing is filmed through a handheld camera. The holder of the camera is heard much more often than seen. We start with 10 or so minutes of idiotic banter that̢۪s supposed to pass for character development. No one seems to know what's going on. None of the characters are particularly likeable. And, it wants to set you up for a sequel. In fact, if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the ending. To be fair, it's actually a remake of a Spanish horror movie entitled [Rec] (as in the "REC" button on your cam-corder) which was never released in the US. In any event, it felt like I had just watched almost the exact same movie just with a different bunch of people I couldn't care less for.

I'll just say again, it's almost exactly like Cloverfield just with zombies in a small apartment building instead of a giant monster in the city of New York. Fans of Cloverfield will either really love it or really hate it. For the rest of us, it'll be just a middle-of-the-road horror flick.

MY SCORE: 5/10

Cloverfield

Directed by Matt Reeves.

2008. Rated PG-13, 84 minutes.
Cast:
Mike Vogel
Jessica Lucas
Lizzy Caplan
Odette Yustman
TJ Miller
Michael Stahl-David
Margot Fairley

New York City is under siege by a giant monster. Again.

In the old Godzilla movies we always saw people running and screaming. However, the stories always focused on a few people who were tasked to stop or help Godzilla. The basic idea here is to focus on a random group of people among those running and screaming who essentially have nothing to do with what would normally be the main plot. They aren’t out to stop this menace. They’re really just trying to keep from getting killed by it as they move about the city in hopes of saving a friend. This approach works very well. It accomplishes several things: It keeps the monster from being overexposed, gives it an air of originality and of course, keeps the budget down. Speaking of budget, what they did with theirs is spectacular. The monster is beautifully rendered, as are the parasites that fall from it. Still, the real success of the special fx team is the city itself. If you rent this, watch the special features on the DVD. You will be amazed at just how much of this movie was made on a computer.

The cast of characters are some of the dumbest people in cinematic history. Hud (Miller), who’s holding the handheld camera for most of the movie is seen through, is the worst offender. Nearly every time he opens his mouth he gives a new answer to the question “How stupid can you be?” These people put hate in my heart. I was rooting for the monster. Well, except for in the case of Jessica Lucas who plays Lilly but only because she’s…uh…fine. Forget I said that. Anyhoo, they also left the door wide open for a sequel that will likely be far worse. My reasoning is since nothing is explained here, they’ll spend much of the second movie developing some cockamamie story to satisfy the internet fanboys who feverishly debate where the monster came from. It will simply be a run-of-the-mill creature-feature with a Hollywood ending. Seriously, once you’ve shot your wad with all this “mysterious monster” business what else can you do? Once the gimmick is successful, leave well enough alone and just count the millions you’ve made.

This is for people who want to see a different kind of monster movie. Basically, it’s the Blair Witch Project of the genre. Thankfully, I haven’t had a bunch of morons trying to convince me it was real like they did when Blair Witch came out. However, I have had people telling me about all kinds of stuff they read online that supposedly fills in the back story for both the monster and the inane people we’re stuck with. Enough already. It wasn’t in the actual movie so I don’t really care. If you can manage to turn your brain off for an hour and a half, you’ll enjoy the ride. If not, skip it.

Paranormal Activity 2

Directed by Tod Williams.
2010. Rated R, 91 minutes.
Cast:
Sprague Grayden
Brian Boland
Molly Ephraim
Katie Featherston
Vivis Cortez
William Juan Prieto
Jackson Xenia Prieto
Seth Ginsberg
Micah Sloat

Right away, we figure something out in Paranormal Activity 2 that alters our vision of the original. Apparently, while Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Sloat) were dealing with an evil spirit in their home, Katie’s sister Kristi (Grayden) and her family is doing the same. Actually, their ordeal starts first. This sudden revelation makes the first movie feel like something is missing since none of this is ever mentioned. Nevertheless, it all begins shortly after little Hunter (the Prieto twins) is born. Pretty soon, inanimate objects are moving about by themselves and things often go bump in the night. Ever the pragmatic, Kristi’s husband Daniel (Boland) always has an explanation for everything while his wife and daughter Ali (Ephraim) think otherwise.

We’re privy to these happenings through two avenues. First, members of the Rey family are fond of carrying around a camcorder, much like Micah in that first movie. Second, they’ve installed security cameras all over the house after what they think is a break-in. Early on, come home to discover their house has been ransacked. Immediately, they assume it was done by burglars. We know better.

As expected, the severity of the strange occurrences elevates as time passes. The Reys are also often visited by Katie and Micah, periodically. Occasionally, Ali’s boyfriend Brad (Ginsberg) is on hand. The family dog seems to be aware that something is not quite right. Even Hunter appears to have the same feeling.

If you’ve seen the original, you’ll notice there’s a few more people around, plus the dog. Basically, this is the only thing that differentiates the sequel from its predecessor. Many of the scare tactics are recycled. The pacing feels identical and the interaction between the skeptic (Daniel) and the believers (Kristi and Ali) feels the same. While the first felt fresh, particularly in the stagnant haunted house genre, this one feels like a remake.

With that said, it’s not a terrible watch. Adding more people to the mix does give us several points of view, which we didn’t have the first time. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that one of them is a baby. Kids in danger tend to get us emotionally involved easier. We just can’t stand it when our angry Casper includes junior in all the fun.

The other thing that keeps us watching is the potential for another crazy ending. We simply have to see how this thing turns out. This one tries but doesn’t have quite the wow factor of the original. It’s interesting, but only in a way that makes you say “Hmmm…that’s interesting.” It doesn’t make you say “OMG!” In summation, that’s the problem with the whole movie. While it’s an okay movie with a couple frights, it often just feels like more of the same.


MY SCORE: 5.5/10

The Last Exorcism

Directed by Daniel Stamm.
2010. Rated PG-13, 87 minutes.
Cast:
Patrick Fabian
Ashley Bell
Iris Bahr
Louis Herthum
Caleb Landry Jones
Tony Bentley
Logan Craig Reid
Shanna Forrestall

Cotton Marcus (Fabian) has been preaching ever since he can remember. As a very young boy, his father not only had him in the pulpit, but delivering fire and brimstone laced sermons. Before he had even hit puberty, Cotton graduated to performing exorcisms. He’s now highly sought after for his ability to dispatch demons. He’s also a fraud. He has become disenfranchised with the church and not completely sure he even believes in God. He wants to expose the entire industry of exorcising demons as all fakery and showmanship. To do so, he’s making a documentary not only explaining this, but actually filming the last exorcism he will perform. Yes, this falls squarely into the young, but rapidly growing horror sub-genre of “found footage” movies. Though this is the rare one that doesn’t tell you this up front, you can still guess how it ends for Cotton and his crew. If you’re stuck, think Shakespearean tragedy. If you’re still stuck, read a couple Shakespearean tragedies.

Despite having a pretty good idea how it finishes, these movies can work if the journey to that finale is a good one. The Last Exorcism builds nicely and gives su some tense moments. All of which involve 16 year old Nell (Bell) whom, along with her father, believes she is possessed by the Devil. Her brother Caleb (Jones) has a different take on the situation. We in the audience are led to believe she is, but there may be something to what Caleb thinks. Will Cotton and company figure this whole thing out? What will happen when they do?

Their next move is often a hotly debated topic amongst our would-be filmmakers. It’s what propels the movie. We already know what we think of Nell. Our interest in in how our heroes will react. We’re also interested in what they think is happening. A wide array of speculative statements are made wheny they repeatedly try to come up with a gameplan to deal with their ever-changing situation.

All of this works well enough. Most of us aren’t scared because not only have there been lots of exorcism movies for us to learn from, but this one is fairly obvious in its machinations. Still, we’re intrigued. We wonder how all of this will affect Cotton’s faith. Will he find a logical, human explanation or will he run back to church, apologize to the Lord and beg forgiveness?

There is a big problem with The Last Exorcism. It can be traced back to what type of movie it is. The genre dictates an abrupt ending. That happens here, but only after a revelation we need to know more about. Literally, two minutes after we see something that makes us want to see lots more, the credits are rolling. This works fine in Cloverfield and more recently Paranormal Activity. It doesn’t quite fit, here. In this case, it feels like the most interesting parts of the movie are purposely excluded.

MY SCORE: 5.5/10

Open Water

Directed by Chris Kentis.
2004. Rated R, 79 minutes.
Cast:
Blanchard Ryan
Daniel Travis
Michael E. Williamson
Saul Stein

Susan (Ryan) and Daniel (Travis) go on vacation to an exotic island and go on a deep sea dive in the middle of the ocean. As luck would have it, the company they paid to go on this little excursion goofs up the head count and takes off while our loving couple is well beneath the surface enjoying some aquatic wildlife. When they come up, they discover what we already know and try to come to grips with the situation. Obviously, they also attempt to hang on until someone grows a brain and comes back for them or someone else happens to sail by and pick them up.

Watching our two lovebirds try to cope and their relationship deteriorate while disruptive sea creatures swirl about and nibble at them is fascinating theater. The sense of abandonment and isolation creates tension and hopelessness which serve the film well. The lack of budget also works to its advantage. Instead of animatronics and CGI, we get creative shots and patient storytelling that gets better as it goes along.

It can be a bit tedious because the camera spends so much time trained on our stranded couple. Just as they find themselves hopelessly drifting, your attention may occasionally do the same. What’s happening back on land is thrown in every now and again. However, until we get near the end, it’s completely pointless so it doesn’t give us anything else to mull over. Thankfully, this is combated by a very short 79 minute runtime.

Full disclosure: I was so ready to hate this movie. Over the handful of years since it came out I’d heard so much about how great it was I’d automatically started to bristle at the notion that it could even be good. There’s just way too much hype surrounding it. I mean, how great could watching two people float around in the water be? As it turns out, it’s not bad. It’s not the greatest thing since Atari 2600, like some have claimed, but pretty good, nonetheless.

MY SCORE: 6.5/10

Paranormal Activity

Directed by Oren Peli.

2009. Rated R, 86 minutes.
Cast:
Katie Featherston
Micah Sloat
Mark Fredrichs
Amber Armstrong

Plot: Katie (Featherston) believes something has been haunting her for her entire life and is in the house where she now lives with her boyfriend Micah (Sloat). Micah decides to film all the goings on in the house, hoping to get to the bottom of it. Things going bump in the night ensue.

The Good: Through the limitations of one of our characters having to hold the camera and the lack of extravagant special fx, it successfully feigns reality. Its easy to believe this is an actual couple and you are watching video documentation of their life. This makes it very easy to relate what's happening on the screen to the noises that break the night silence in your own home. Therefore, its as plausible as a haunted house movie can be and there is where its power lies.

The Bad: Its worst offense is because of that same camera that's such an asset. Even when the situation seems to dictate getting to or away from whatever is going on quickly, someone, usually Micah, usually stops to grab the camera, first. A major horror cliche pops up from time to time. It's that old favorite "You hear that? I'm gonna go check it out." And yes, Micah get annoying.

The Ugly: After one particularly adventurous night about halfway through, if I were Kate's boyfriend, without question I would've given her "the speech." What speech, you ask? "You know what babe? I don't think this thing is gonna work out between us. It's you...er...it's me, not you. Peace out." Love, be damned!

Recommendation: This is a very nice haunted house flick, best one I've seen in quite some time. It easily surpasses The Haunting in Connecticut, 2009's other major entry into the genre. Yes, it totally steals the concept from The Blair Witch Project, or probably more accurately from Cloverfield which stole it from TBWP but I like it better than both of those. As with all haunted house movies, I recommend watching this at home, late at night, with all the lights off, then going to bed immediately afterwards.

The Opposite View: Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

What the Internet Says: 7.0/10 on imdb.com (12/14/09), 82% on rottentomatoes.com, 68/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 8/10