2011

Directors: The Vicious Brothers

Genre: Found footage horror

I truly don't think I've ever seen a film that took such a strong nosedive into terrible. I was thoroughly enjoying the film for the first half or so. The crew of a ghost hunters show actually finding something paranormal feels like an often re-used premise, but at the same time it's a fun idea. 

It's entertaining to watch the crew act as if they can sense the presence of a ghost, while the audience knows that there most likely is a spiritual presence here. We almost feel like the ghosts in this scenario, as we roll our eyes and wait patiently for the time to strike. 

Ghosts as a concept are great, but I feel like many movies don’t properly utilize them as antagonists. The scary thing for me about a ghost is the fact that they will always be there, and their presence will worm its way into your psyche and drive you to either insanity or suicide.

That idea feels much scarier than a woman that will stretch her face and scream like she’s posing for a YouTube thumbnail.

This movie was doing so well. It began with all the typical ghost scares: doors closing, unexpected sounds, someone's hair moving. Then when everyone decided to leave the hospital, things got genuinely creepy. They open the main door, but instead find another hallway. The world loops around them endlessly. It reminded me a little bit of a certain house.

This is great. Imagine if the film was just these four or five characters trying endlessly to find their way out of a seemingly infinite abandoned mental institution. Maybe one of them would snap and attack the others. Maybe they're in there for so long that they have to resort to cannibalism. Maybe they're all having a mass hallucination caused by a malevolent spirit and the truth is that they all made it out hours ago. 

We don't get anything like that. We get some ghosts who scream and run at the camera. And then at the end there's a Nazi scientist who gives the main character a lobotomy. It just all become so silly that it stopped being interesting. 

I don't have a problem with found footage films. I do have a huge problem with ghosts with elongated faces rushing at the camera. That movie with the train coming toward the camera is scarier.

⭐️⭐️