Reviews: A Few Favorite Found Footage Films

Found footage has grown into one of the one of the most popular Sub-genre used by filmmakers of horror in the last ten years. While its beginnings can be traced back to the 1980's it really didn't get its footing till 1999's 'Blair Witch Project' took the world by storm with its clever marketing and campaign that made over half the people that went to see it think it was a real film. 

Personal i'm not really a fan of most found footage out there, but there are some clever movies that i like that have used the format in smart ways that make the movies enjoyable. here are a few of my favorite.

 Troll Hunter
Dir. Andre Ovredal

Troll Hunter is a fantastic watch because of its size and scope. Three university students fallow Hans, a man that hunts trolls for a secret government organization. First of, this does not feel like a found footage film, it feels like a movie. I know that sounds dumb, but if you got to see this film in theaters you would not feel like you just paid $15.00 to watch some jerk holding a camera as he films a love story while a giant monster destroys New York (i'll talk more about cloverfield when i talk about found footage films i hate). You would feel like you just watch a movie that someone put a lot of the heart and soul into.
Watching Hans get ready to do battle with some of the trolls is awesome, the homemade Armour looks great and his truck with all the lights really shows that they wonted to keep some of the beliefs surrounding trolls in the Netherlands a fact more then just superstition.
The special effects are nice, its low budget and that shows on some of the trolls which kind of removes the believably part of the film, but its fun and they still feel very large.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes
Dir. John Erick Dowdle

When people tell me they don't get frightened from horror movies anymore, i asked them if they've seen 'Poughkeepsie Tapes' which most haven't seeing how it has never really been officially released except for a short video on demand run. So then i tell them to watch it... and they never speak to me again.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes is almost to real. Done more like a A&E crime documentary, it fallows the investigators who found over 800 videos of the "Water Street Butcher" capturing, torturing, killing, and mutilating his victims. Not only does the movie focus on the crimes but the toll watching these movie took on the officers involved.
Like the 'Blair Witch Project' this movie seems to real for some people but not because of clever marketing. More it has to do with the fact that it never got any kind of release. now more of a movie you hear about then have to track down on the internet tell your friends about then they track it down and so on. This movie is shocking, brutal, and powerful like so few other movies. It leaves you depressed and angry and more then a little afraid.

[Rec]
Dir. Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza

Very few movies turn out this intense, Trapped in a apartment building with these fast, demon possessed, zombie like creatures, locked in with nowhere to run or hide. Crazy shit.
The movie revolves around a young television reported and her camera man, who are filming a late night show at the local fire station when they get to do a ride along to what sounds like a routine call. they get to a apartment building and go to check on a elderly lady the other tenants are worried about and get attacked, then shit goes to hell.
[Rec] may be my favorite found footage film ever. The camera work is solid, the possessed are awesome looking especially the creepy girl at the end. its fast passed and cramped which makes for some really frighting scenes, and the acting is good, although i have a hard time gauging actors that speck a different language then me, but i believe them to be frighten when they we supposed to be, and that's enough.

Reviews: Jack Ketchum's Evil Mind in Films.

I watched 'The Girl Next Door' (not staring Elisha Cuthbert) with some friends who told me after it was over that they would never watch that movie again, and that i had a sick taste in movies but... I really have to disagree with them. Now, understand that i do not enjoy anything that happened to that young girl in that movie, but i do view this movie is a great Horror film and a excellent example of how this genre can not only be horrifying at times but also make you feel something. Now that being said this movie makes you feel completely depressed and empty but its still a great movie. So after that i wanted more Jake Ketchum and i don't read much so anytime i could find one of his movies i watched it. so here's what i thought.

The Girl Next Door (2007)

Dir. Gregory Wilson

'the Girl Next Door' Is a fictional story written by Katchum based of the true crimes that befell on a young girl by her over baring Aunt. The film is as much about the torment and abuses that happened to the young girl is it is the loss of innocents that happened to all the other young children involved. The movie is hard hitting and slow paced but it doesn't feel like it at times because of the great acting done but some out standing kids. I'm amazed their parents were willing to let their kids experiences this even if it was fake. this movie is not recommended as a date movie... trust me, you will not get laid after.

4.5 Burnt Vajayjay's out of 5.... it really is a good movie.

The Lost (2007)

Dir. Chris Sivertson

'The lost' was the second Ketchum movie i tracked down, and although i did enjoy the movie i was not entirely impressed up until the frantic ending... that i did like. This movie is also based on true events that is something Ketchum is great at, finding truly horrible true crimes and turning them into great story's. This one is about Ray, who one day while hanging out at the campgrounds around where he lives comes upon two girls and decides to murder them, he gets some help covering it up by two friends and is never brought to justice. 4 years later Ray feels invincible but thing start to unwind as some old cops and new friend start to turn his world upside down and he finally snaps.

3 crushed cans in your shoes do make you taller out of 5.

Offspring (2009)

Dir. Andrew Van den Houten

I'm not going to be kind here, i hated this movie... well maybe hate is a little strong... But Maybe its not. The movie is about a family attacked by a group of nomadic cannibal's who have been living on the coast of Maine for many years. Well what can i say, low production value show throughout the whole movie, sub par acting (almost saved by veteran Canadian actor Art Hindle.) crappy gore that doesn't seem necessary at most times, and a plot that leave something to be desired. Well Mr. Ketchum can make them all great.

2.5 dead babies out of 5.

The Women (2011)

Dir. lucky Mckee

In this movie Pollyanna McIntosh reclaims her role as the women (a feral eater of human flesh) from the previous talked about film 'Offspring', she is captured by a overbearing father and family man named Chris who whats to civilize her, to what end, who knows. as the movie progresses we see that Chis is not as nice a person as he seems and his son may be just as fucked up. Chis is a abusive and bastard of a man treating everyone like his own property, and he gets whats coming in the end. Not a bad movie and it at times brings to mind 'The Girl Next Door' but maybe only because they have a girl tied up and they torture and rape her. Fun stuff. Not a great movie, but not a bad one either.

3 lawnmower blades to your sons guts out of 5.

Red (2008)

Dir. Lucky Mckee & Trygve Allister Diesen

'Red' may be the redeeming film i've been looking for, since seeing 'The Girl Next Door' i've been waiting for someone to take one of Jack Katchum's stories and make another solid film out of it, and 'Red' is that. Red is the story of a old man looking for vindication after Three young men kill his dog and make a joke out of it. The movie looks at the difference between the classes of people living out there as well as some heart breaking look at how far someone well go just to get the truth. The movie has some great actors like veteran actor Brian Cox and the up and comer Noel Fisher. At first glance this is just a simple revenge movie... but over a dog, but it not as if Brian Cox's character is asking for blood he just wants to know that the young men understand that they can't get away whit what they've done, until it looks like they can. This story is all build up to a great climax that leaves you feeling alittle depressed and somewhat empty... hmmm. that's funny, just like another movie of Ketchum's. Anyways This movie is great, give it a watch.

4 dead dogs out of 5.   

Reviews: Odds and Ends

Apollo 18

Dir - Gonzalo Lopez

I can never help but think it must be hard to make a horror movie set in space and not have it written of as a Sci-fi movie, not that there's anything wrong with science fiction. Just you need a little more disbelief in order for it to work. Alien is a great example, its got great scares and atmosphere but its set in a time and place that doesn't exist to me so i wright it of as Sci-fi more then horror.

That being said i have to applaud the makers of Apollo 18 did a great job of setting the time and place, The "found footage" seems like it may have come from the 70's as well as the spaceship itself resembles the cramped cone shaped pods we're accustomed to see astronauts in. the acting is good and set design is outstanding. Its still not a great movie but what "found footage" movie is.

My big complaint about the films...[SPOILERS AHEAD] and its even brought up in the film, is that one astronaut tell the other that they're not going to leave them there, because they need the footage that they've been recording and we've been watching. Which make since seeing how were watching the footage but wait... no one comes both astronauts die and were to believe that another secret mission must have happened, or the spider rock fucking aliens took it down to us.

3 failed missions to the moon out of 5.

Necromentia

Dir. Pearry Reginald Teo

Wow. What a messed up movie. Now i had heard a lot of hype going into this film, some were saying it was such a great horror film that blah blah blah and others were comparing it to hellraiser movies saying that it would be a great sequel (Which i totally agree with after watching it.) but a lot of good hype usually leads me one of two ways when i watch the movie.

1. i already hate it cause you've made such a big deal out of it that if its anything other then cinematic gold then its crap.

2. there can be no way that this movie as is good as people say it is and it if it turns out to be shit then i'm giving up on horror and just watching Adam Sandler movies from now on.

It turns out this movie is quite good, in fact i'd say most of the hype was founded. there cool characters, none of who you'll really like but there still cool, and some really messed up imagery. most off all it a great little story about love, revenge and what some people are willing to do to get back what they have lost.

4 pig heads out of 5

Straw Dogs

Dir. Rod Lurie

before anyone of you give me shit about Straw Dogs not being horror, i tell you one thing... Go fuck yourself. Some people may call this a Thriller some may call it a drama, but really does this movie not have everything that our classic revenge horror films have. Don't get me wrong in no way am i saying this because i think this movie was great (it was alright) its just that sometimes we have to let some movies fall into categories we don't agree with.

anyways this is a remake of a classic cult film and it doesn't do that bad as far as remakes go, solid acting and great back and forth banter between rich boy cyclops and Eric the Vampire. Cyclops also does a great job fighting of the rape-y rednecks, and killing the fuck out of them.

3.5 Bear traps to the head out of 5.

Reviews: Alienated Aliens

The Thing (2011)
Dir. Matthijs Van Heijningen Jr.

Many people refereed to this as a 'The Thing' Remake although its not, but again as to our understanding of what a remake is, it is... it takes place in practically the same place and large parts of the story are interchangeable, so it kind of is. Its a prequel to John Carpenter's 'The Thing' (1982) Which is a remake of the 1951 'The Thing From Another World'... but anyways lets talk about the 2011 'The Thing'. 'The Thing' fallows a group of Swedish and American scientist at a isolated Antarctica research site who have stumbled upon a shape shifting alien that loves to devour humans and likes to wear them. the great part about these movies is the paranoia that strikes the people put in the situation. The actors do a great job and while a lot of the hype for this movie was around the SFX which was supposed to be all practical FX with a little CG added in but it turned out to be a lot more CG then practical. A lot of people seem to have a problem with that If you can get past the CG FX, then this is a good movie.

                                  4 hand spiders out of 5

Attack the Block
Dir. Joe Corrish

A teenage gang, made tuff from the hard streets of south London must fight for there lives against some of the cooler aliens that i've seen for a while... their pitch black gorilla wolf looking things with glowing teeth. I kind of expected this movie to suck, i didn't see how anything i heard about it could be true, some cheesy low budget movie about a street gang fighting of aliens, i've seen thing similar to this before and it always turns out to be a shit movie. but this movie worked out great. super action lots of death and the fat friend from Shaun of the dead as a drug dealer.

4 Crazy Alien Gorilla Wolves out of 5.



Altered
Dir. Eduardo Sanchez

The jest of Altered is that 5 friend were abducted by aliens and then release except for one who was dead, fifteen years later there looking for payback. Altered as a low budget alien abduction movie with a twist, the alien is the one that's abducted. The four surviving guys have captured one of the aliens that abducted them fifteen years earlier... OK this is way out there.
This movie is pretty crazy still a good watch but it seems to be slow paced at times and hard to fallow. but give it a try.

3 abducted dudes out of 5.

Reviews: Then Turn Back Stupid.

This weeks reviews well be of a series of movies in the subcategory of the slasher genre i call 'family slasher' not that its family safe, more that it usually a family of inbred retarded freaks doing the killing. These movies usually have a group of people going out to back country/Bum fuck nowhere, for no good reason and then they all get slaughter except one or two who happen to win a small victory other then all their friend and family being dead. such movies include Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and the dreadful Skinned Deep to name a few. But me, i'm going to go with a newer series...

Wrong Turn (2003)

Dir. Rob Schmidt

Now i know a lot of people give 'Wrong Turn' a thumbs down and to them i say "Go fuck yourself!" What the else do you wont from this kind of movie, it a great take on a classic idea given a nice twist and some really nice make up done on those retarded redneck folks. Anyways i'm a fan of this movie (as you could probable tell) Its got some sweet kills, good acting and Eliza Dushku's Boobs in a nice tight tank top and that part in the cabin where they have to silently watch one of the close friends butchered in front of them with out letting the Freaks know their there, classic. The plot is pretty straight forward young man meet up... crashes into five other young people, in backwoods America and have to fight for there lives against Cannibalistic redneck retards. To tell you more then that would be a waste.

4 Barbed wire smile out of 5

Wrong turn 2: Dead End. (2007)

Dir. Joe Lynch

OK, so by definition sequels in horror movies are bad, (Nightmare on elm st. 2 we're looking at you.) so i wasn't really expecting much going in to it... and i didn't get much from it. To be honest i like this movie its just fails in comparison to the first (this series shares a lot with 'Scream' in that way) but what this movie does have.. is Henry Rollins, and that's awesome. So this time there is a reality T.V. show about survival being filmed in the Cannibalistic redneck retards back yard, and their hungry. People die, parts get eaten, redneck retard incest... what more could you want.

3 Fingers out of 5

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009)

Dir. Declan O'Brien

When I said that these movies share something in common with the Scream franchise i meant that like the scream franchise as each new sequel come out and is worse the original movie seems to look worse and worse, just like the 'Saw' movies, the first saw is great, but as each watered down sequel came out the First movie got forgot about. Now, After saying that you probably think i'm not going to have anything good to say about this movie and... i don't, again it not that bad its just a worse then part 2 which was worse the part 1. I even kind of like the idea behind this one more then 2, Some hardened criminals should put up a pretty good fight against some stupid rednecks, but they don't. boo-urns.

2.5 razor-wire traps out of 5.

Needless to say i am excited about seeing the 4th installment of the series that i guess is more of a prequel then a sequel, but who cares, i just wont to watch some teenagers die.

Reviews: A Fabulous Feast.

Feast

Dir. John Gulager (2005)

Feast is one of those movies that has a lot of expectations put on it and doesn't really pay off in the end, now that's not to say that its a piece of shit like most... it's just that expectations were to high for this one. After all the trouble getting it through Project Greenlight 3 everyone thought that this would turn into the next big thing in horror, it wasn't... but it was still a pretty cool movie. 'Feast' has the classic survivors in a isolated location feel to it, like Night of the living dead only with super fast highly lethal killer rubber suit monsters and in a bar. The movie starts of introducing us to everyone giving us a almost video game bio of everyone and letting us know what there "strengths" are and what their odds of surviving are. also this movie has a true no one is safe feel (The first hero dies and a child dies in this one... but wait for part 2) that fallows through the rest of the films. What else can i say about 'Feast' other then it has the feel of a old drive-in movie that's just to fun and gory to forget.

3.5/ 5

Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds

Dir. John Gulager (2008)

What John Gulager did to make 'Feast 1' fast and fun can start to be seen missing in 'Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds'. Yep Sloppy Seconds, that's what they called it. . . Anyways lets see After our few survivors escape the bar and make their way to the closest town, that just so happens to be over run with... you guessed it the same monsters. Shit. alright so more crazy deaths happen and some boobs are shown, there's a longer then it has to be dissection of one of the monsters that just seems to be added for a very long fart joke. This movie falls for the tree of the first movie but not that far, it still good for a laugh and has some great gory gags in it... and a biker chick made tit-girl, and then there's the baby death. Now it hard to believe but they stepped up the no one is safe feel from the first movie by killing a baby (I wonder how Ben and Matt feel about putting the first movie through project greenlight now?) anyways this is the moment where the movie losses half its audience, and i'm talking so hardcore horror movie fan just say... " that's to much" now i'm not going to say weather it stepped over a line or not, but really sometimes we have to agree not every baby is going to live through a Apocalypse.

3/5.

Feast 3: The Happy Finish.

Dir. John Gulager (2009)

Really, you called your second movie sloppy seconds then when you have the chance to go for another "great" title like i don't know, The happy ending, you fuck it up and call your movie 'The Happy Finish' what the fuck... although it does help you to understand what the hell happened with this movie. Ok so say 'Feast' was made for horror fans then the 2nd would have been made for stoners... that would mean that the third was made for people with brain damage that causes them to forget whats going on every ten minutes. This movie is pretty bad considering they had such a strong start, but they just run through ideas like a... I don't know like what but lets just say to much is going on. They add new characters just to have someone to kill off and have some guy who turns out to be a Ninja... he dies. lots of things happen but none of it had to... thats all i have to say about that. OH yes... also more boobs.

2.5/5.