Rec: Yet More Found Footage

Rec is a Spanish found footage horror film directed by Jaume Balaguero. The plot sees a reporter (Angela Vidal), cover a firefighter intervention at a nearby apartment complex, however, as the night draws on she becomes locked down in the building with in becoming ever more clear that something else is going on.

Much like when I reviewed Rosemary’s Baby the other day, I feel like because this film is so highly regarded in the horror community I should like it, that was the main reason I gave it a chance in the first place, but I have to say after seeing it I really don’t see what all the fuss is about.

The one pro I will give this film is that I enjoyed the tight confined setting of an apartment block, I thought it gave the film a strong claustrophobic sense of atmosphere that helped it greatly.

Conversely, I thought the characters were poorly written. I didn’t care about them and that made all of the drama and the tension in the film become rendered null for me, the reporter didn’t seem to have much personality beyond being a reporter.

Likewise, the scares and the situation did little for me because I have seen it before, and better. The idea of an outbreak with people turning into these monsters (maybe Zombies?), is not a new concept and this film fails to do anything interesting with it.

Overall, strongly disappointing.

Pros.

The claustrophobic setting

Cons.

The main character has no personality

The scares feel done before

I could guess how it would end

I left disappointed

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Host: Elbow Bumps Might Be Able To Stop The Virus, But They Can’t Stop Demons

Host is a found footage screen set horror film directed by Rob Savage. The plot sees a group of friends conduct a séance over zoom/ or an equivalent during the 2020 Covid19 lockdown, as things progress they release the spirit they have summoned is in fact demonic and wants to see them all dead.

So, to me this film was boosted by the novelty factor of having it take place during lockdown; specifically the UK’s interpretation of that. I enjoyed see people bump elbows as a form of greeting, it made me laugh. No doubt this will be the first of many films to take this format and no doubt it will get repetitive quickly, but for now, as this is the first, I found a novelty to it.

This film reminded me in a lot of ways of Unfriended and its sequel, it used a lot of the same tricks and turns. Though I did enjoy the ending of this more as we get to see the demon (though invisible), pick of each character in a horrific fashion, I thought these supernatural elements added nicely to the technology and isolation horror aspects.

This film has a strong atmosphere that it uses for most of it scares effectively. However, there is one jump scare right near the end that really got me as I was not expecting it. Normally I would be dead against the use of jump scares, but here they actually pull it off well.

Overall, a fun lockdown themed horror film. That is good for a one time viewing.

Pros.

The lockdown setting

The performances were quite good

The kills

The ending scare

Cons.

It is quite familiar

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Taking Of Deborah Logan

The Taking Of Deborah Logan is a found footage horror film directed by Adam Robitel. The plot sees an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s become possessed by an evil malevolent presence. Of course, there is a student there with a film crew recording the whole thing because she is doing a thesis about the disease. I don’t know, but she is there.

Let’s get one thing nice and clear right off the bat, this film had no reason to be a found footage film, did it add anything? No. Did the constant shaky cam and cuts to black make the film any scarier? No. If anything the use of found footage derailed this film and ultimately killed it; the final sequence boils down to the same thing you have seen a thousand times before shaky cam running down a dark hallway where everything is hard to see and there is a constant screaming that makes you want to say “shut up”. It is aggressively average.

What makes this sad is the potential the film had. Mental illness, especially the sort of ones that feature in this film, bring a special type of very real fear with them. The film could have played with the idea of is she possessed, or is her mental state getting worse rapidly, that would have been interesting. No, the film just decides yeah lets go for the predictable boring demon angle and it flushes all the potential it had down the toilet.

Overall, this is nothing new. There is promise in the first twenty to thirty minutes, but the rest of the film promptly ruins that. From a filmmaking point of view this film points out to be all the issues with found footage films and the genre as a whole; barely seeing something for half a second isn’t scary. The found footage genre is dead.

Pros.

It has promise

Cons.

It ruins said promise

The storyline is played out

The found footage filming style is grating

The third act is barely watchable

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Skinwalkers: Hollow To The Core

Skinwalkers (Skinwalker Ranch outside of the UK), is a found footage horror movie directed by Devin McGinn. The plot sees a team of scientist and researchers go to a ranch in Utah to investigate reports of strange goings on and the disappearance of a young boy.

This is your bog standard found footage film, right now before reading this review, before even watching the film, you can tell me beat for beat what is going to happen and you will be mostly right. It is painfully average in a lot of ways.

I have written a bit about my issues with the found footage genre, my fatigue with it and this film encapsulates everything I am talking about. It is just so damn formulaic it is in no way scary or shocking. It is supposed to be about Aliens, so it does have so cool extraterritorial stuff in it, but mostly it is the same things that you have seen a million times before. The moment when a creepy little girl showed up and then her face distorted and her eyes turned black was the moment I gave up; there is nothing new here, nothing of substance.

The characters are generic, as you would expect them to be in something like this, they try and set up a wider world, but you just don’t care.

The only real pro I can give this film is that it is on for an hour and 17 minutes, so it is mercifully short. Overall, it is not aggressively bad by any means there are plenty of worse films out there, but it is painfully average and mind numbingly dull. Avoid unless you’re desperate.

Pros.

It is not terrible.

It is only on for an hour and 17 minutes.

Cons.

There is nothing to like about it.

Clearly it has been made with no real effort or consideration.

It is a waste of your time.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bigfoot, The Lost Coast Tapes: The Adventures Of Discount Tom Cruise

The Lost Coast Tapes is a Bigfoot centric found footage film directed by Corey Grant. The plot follows a group of people who go out into the wilderness to meet with a man who says he can prove the existence of Bigfoot. Once the group get their things start to go wrong, and the threat is all too real!

When I first put this on, I was expecting the worst, I was expecting a cheap, low rent, bargain basket esque film. However, I am pleased to say I actually enjoyed it a far bit and would recommend it. I love the focus on Bigfoot, and I think it added a nice bit of variety to the usual found footage dross. I liked the exploration of what a Bigfoot would be like and what it could do: alien or not.

Although, never before in all my time watching films have I ever met a lead character more unlikable than the lead in this, Sean Reynolds (Drew Rausch). I came to call the character discount Tom Cruise and I feel like if you watch the film you will see why. There is just something so obnoxious about him, I don’t know if that is how the character is suppose to be, or if the actor if just unbearable, but in nearly every scene he is the worst character in the room; taking the idea of a ‘dude bro’ to the extreme.

I thought the Alien or possible demonic suggestion at the end was a nice twist and left you with something to think about. I personally enjoyed the ambiguity and the fact that we never got a good look at what a Bigfoot looked like; it keeps the mystery alive.

Overall, I think this is a surprisingly good found footage movie cursed with one hell of an unlikable lead, but if you can get past him there is a decent film waiting for you.

Pros.

The handling of Bigfoot.

The ambiguity.

The ending.

It is very interesting.

Cons.

The lead is utterly hateable.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Borderlands: Sometimes The Old Ways Take Over

The Borderlands/ or as it is otherwise known as The Final Pray is a British found footage horror movie directed by Elliot Goldner. The plot sees a team of Vatican Investigators descend upon a small English town after a local priest claims to have witness a miracle, or at least something unexplainable. The team soon start to notice odd things going on and suspicions grow.

I was on the verge of not watching found footage films anymore, films like Found Footage 3D and the second Blair Witch film had led me to lose faith in the genre with film after film feeling like samey, boring, repetitive trash. However, after a few people on Twitter recommended this film to me I decided to have one last hurrah and give it a go and I am pleased to tell you I enjoyed it.

For a start it is nice to see a found footage horror film set in the UK, in a quaint little village no less, rather than some endlessly expansive wood somewhere Stateside. Another thing I appreciate about this film is that it does not drag things out. We all know how it goes, first you get some bangs, then maybe something falls off the wall, then they put up cameras, then they hear something etc; it is at this point formulaic and obvious. However, before the first 20 minutes are over in this film a group of the local youth have set a sheep on fire to scare the priests and their associates, there is no boring, drawn out built; this film gets right to it.

Another thing I will applaud this film for is you’re never quite sure what the monster is. Even in the final moments of the film you are none the wiser as to what is killing the men. A Pagan God seems like the most logical suspect, but nothing is ever confirmed, and the ending is deliberately ambiguous.

The one thing I will bring the film up on, is the use of camera effects such as cutting out and distortion. Whenever something paranormal happens the camera picture starts to break up, obviously so they didn’t have to find a practical way to show what was happening, and normally I wouldn’t mind this, but here it felt a little overused.

Overall, a marvellous found footage film that might have reignited my interest in the genre.

Pros.

It is nice seeing it set in the UK for a change.

The ending and the ambiguity.

It gets right into it.

The scares.

Cons.

The camera trickery is overused.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

A Descent Into Horror And Madness: My Top 5 Shudder Recommendations

Shudder bills itself as the Netflix of horror films, they claim to have something for every kind of horror fan. Their library is made up of some old classics and some original content, there are gems to be found if you know where to look. Fear not dear reader, over the last month (ish), I have been on an odyssey going through Shudders entire back catalogue; only the stuff that interested me though mind. As such, I have written this post to give you some hand-picked recommendations; which hopefully will scratch your horror ich and maybe give you some new horror favourites. In the UK you can get Shudder as an extension to your Amazon account, it will come up as a video channel. I don’t know how you get it elsewhere.

Body At Brighton Rock

This goofy camp thriller soon takes a turn to the dark side. Set in an American national park, a ranger get lost and has to spend the night next to a corpse. There is a lot going on here and the twist at the end is genius. It is absolutely dripping in style and has such a unique voice. The horror with this one comes from the idea of being stranded in the woods alone over night; which in and of itself is a terrifying thought. She also fights a bear briefly so there is that!

Stitches

Stitches is a pitch-black horror comedy about a dead clown who has come back to get his revenge on the group of kids that killed him. This is a rare treat as it is a horror comedy that actually manages to be both scary and funny. Ross Nobel nails the jokes and there are several laugh out loud moments, he is also menacing as hell. Another two reasons this is great is because it creates a fantastically weird mythology for clowns and also because it has some of the best gore, I have ever seen in a horror film.

Dead Hooker In The Trunk

This is the debut film of the Soska Sisters that should be all you need to know. However for those of you who aren’t die hard fans, this film kicks ass because it is a low budget exploitation esque film and knows it. The look of the film is very early Robert Rodriguez, grindhousey and grainy, the sort of film that looks like it was shot on film but wasn’t. The Sisters are standout as the lead characters, but there are also plenty of other memorable characters and moments. It was this film that put them on Eli Roth’s radar.

The Hell House Trilogy

Found footage as a genre is played out, it is very, and I do mean very rare to get a good found footage film, yet the first Hell House LLC is just that. The series is about a hotel that is also a gateway to hell and as you can imagine a lot of ghostly goings on happen in the hotel and different groups of people fall prey to them over the course of the series. Though the second film is a dip in quality for sure, all three of these films are good found footage films and the ending of the third film may be the best ending to a series I have ever seen, no spoilers here though.

Monster Party/Killer Party

This dark comedy film is about a group of thieves that break into a house to find a meeting of recovering murders going on. It is worth a watch for that premise alone, however what follows is a tense well-acted masterclass in suspense. What’s more it has Lance Reddick in, and that man can do no wrong, he is great as a crazed cult leader. This film is manic and maddening in the best way.

Bonus Recommendations

Mayhem is a great film, with a terrific sense of angry energy and one hell of a performance by Samara Weaving, if you like The Babysitter and Ready Or Not you will love this.

Also The Midnight Swim is superb and one of the most unsettling films I have ever seen, to say more would ruin it.

I have full spoiler reviews of all of these films up on the site, so check them out to after you have watched them, or before if you’re not bothered about spoilers; either way.

I hope you enjoy these films as much as I did, happy viewing!

Written by Luke

Blair Witch 2: A Trip To The Woods

Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows is a horror fantasy film directed by Joe Berlinger. The film serves as sort of sequel to the original, but many view it as a standalone project. The plot sees a group of people go to the ‘real life’ filming locations of the first film and surprise, surprise things go wrong, and it turns out the Blair Witch is real.

This film is part found footage, part mockumentary. This film is often unfairly compared to the first film in a hugely unfavourably way. Sure, is it a bad sequel? Yes. It is even a sequel? Only in a lose sense. Was this film riddled with behind the scenes issues? Yes, hell the director of the sequel wanted nothing to do with it and said his vison of the film was not what was made. However is it a bad film? No.

There is some enjoyment to be had here. This is an early 2000’s film in every sense of the word, it opens with a Marilyn Manson song of course because what is more noughties horror than that. It is goofy and weird, and the CGI is bad, but that is part of the fun.

It depends on the sort of horror fan you’re, if you like a horror film to be scary and all of that then this sucks, it is not scary, there is no atmosphere, the scares are obvious and boring. However, if you’re the sort of horror fan that also enjoys bad horror films, I’m taking about things like Killer Clowns From Outer Space, then this is great; I found myself laughing far more than anything else.

Overall, as a horror film, divorcing it from the first film, this film is a failure, but it is also so bad it is good. There are a lot of unintentional laughs to be had here and some goofy hockie genre fun, so it depends what you want.

Pros.

It is hilarious.

Cons.

It is not scary.

It feels like a mishmash.

It doesn’t work as a sequel.

It makes no sense.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Found Footage 3D: A Whole Other Dimension Of Average

Found Footage 3D is a horror film directed by Steven DeGennaro. The plot is about a budding group of filmmakers making a found footage film which becomes menacingly real, when they demonic monster of their film spills out into the real world the usual hijinks ensue.

This film had promise, the premise lent it the ability to be to found footage films what Scream was to slasher films. When I first started to watch this film, I thought it would be a smart film that would point out all the ridiculous things about this subgenre and be somewhat tongue in cheek and the beginning is suggestive towards this being the case.

However, as the film progress you realise something, this film is not mocking the genre, nor is it a homage or a tribute, it is just yet another found footage movie that is exactly the same as the rest. After the satirical start, events play out just like they would in any number of other found footage films and it all just feel very been there and done that. Yes, it is not the fault of the film that the genre is played out, but it is there fault that the filmmakers behind his film thought to add to the genre rather than change it.

The characters are the same collection you would expect from this sort of film and everything is incredibly formulaic. The leader of the group Derek (Carter Roy), is an intensely unlikable person, this must have surely been by design, though I don’t know why it would be as this leads you to want him to die for the entirety of the film, only to get a very disappointing death at the end of the film, leaving you feeling disappointed.

That would be a great way to sum up this film disappointing.

Overall, this film is a waste of time and is squanders its opportunity to be something different.

Pros.

The ending is good and tense.

The premise is unique.

Cons.

It wastes its potential.

It is painfully average.

Worst of all it is disappointing.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Hell House LLC 3: The Big Finale

Hell House LLC 3 is a found footage horror film also serving as the final film in the Hell House LLC series, carrying on from the events of the previous 2 films. The plot this time around sees the Abaddon Hotel being opened up to the public once again, with the malicious idea behind it being to trap innocent souls in hell, however, there is a twist.

After the ending of the last film this film had a lot to live up to, and until the final 10 minutes I would have said it didn’t. The majority of the film is pretty standard a group of people go to the Abaddon Hotel increasingly threatening spooky stuff happens until they all die. I don’t know about you, but I was expecting more after the ending of the second film, I thought we might get to see demons or at least more of the cult, but we don’t get that, and I was disappointed.

However, the final ridiculous reveals is not only awesome, but it singly handily saves the film. This reveal is that Russell Wynn (Gabriel Chytry), a mysterious millionaire who has been mentioned several times in the series, but never actually appeared is in fact an Angel. Throughout the film we the audience are led to believe that there is something off about Russell that had to do with his car accident years ago, I incorrectly assumed he was going to be a demon or maybe even the Devil himself; how wrong I was.

This film reveals that only an angel can close an Earthly portal to Hell, and that God himself brought Russell back from the dead as an Angel so he could get to the Abaddon Hotel portal and close it, there is a montage showing Russell being there for all the main events of the series and it really helps to create an epic conclusion.

I also really liked Russell’s interactions with the original films cast who show up at the end as ghost who Russell tells to move on, saying he closed the portal they opened. The whole Russell twist is just fantastic on so many levels.

Overall, this film takes the trilogy out with one Hell of a bang. Marvellous stuff.

Pros.

Russell.

The Ending.

The recontextualization of the whole series.

Strong characters/ memorable moments.

Cons.

The editing is a little jarring.

The film before the big reveal is a bit disappointing.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke