Found footage is either the bane of my horror experience or a delight, and Final Prayer is no exception to that idea. I really like the idea at work here, and I love the climax, though I wish it had been executed better, we don’t see enough, we don’t quite learn enough, though the fear…
Tag: cameras
The Tunnel (2011) – Carlo Ledesma
Something is going on in the tunnels under Sydney, and it’s terrifying. Found footage films for me, like most, can be hit or miss, but I’m willing to give a little leeway for something of them. The Tunnel definitely earned that grace from me. I enjoyed this one, it’s enjoyable, and was produced in an…
Tropic Thunder (2008) – Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller directed the ultimate Hollywood satire with Tropic Thunder. He developed the story with Justin Theroux, and the pair wrote a script with Ethan Cohen. It’s sharp, pointed, and under its endlessly quotable dialogue and performances is a skewering look at Tinsel Town. Everything seems to be a lie, from promotions to images to…
V/H/S: Viral (2014) – Marcel Sarmiento, Gregg Bishop, Nacho Vigalondo, Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and Todd Lincoln
The anthology horror series, V/H/S is a bit hit and miss, but the great thing about anthology films is if you don’t like one story, just hold on and see what comes along next. The third entry in the series is no different, there are some that could have been executed a little better, some…
Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire (2019) – Stephen Cognetti
Found footage can be hit or miss. To attempt a trilogy what works solely with that sub-genre is pretty ambitious, and I think, for the most part, writer/director Stephen Cognetti pulls it off. And if you watch all three films in close succession, as I have, they flow a lot better, and he wraps everything…
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) – Stephen Cognetti
Y’know what? I’m not gonna lie. I had a pretty good time with the first film, Hell House LLC, so I figured I would dive into the sequels – I mean it’s the same writer/director through all of them, so we know that no matter how they play out, this is Cognetti’s story the whole…
TIFF 2021: The Rescue dir. E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
2018. Thailand. The world was watching. Documentary filmmakers Vasarhelyi and Chin takes us back and put us in the caves that trapped twelve boys, who formed the Wild Boars football team, and their coach for almost three weeks. Volunteers and aid came from the world over, descending on the country to help the Thai’s Navy…
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971) – Werner Herzog
I dug into another title from the Movies That Cause Trauma chapter of the Ten Bad Dates with De Niro book, and I have to say, having watched this offering from Herzog, I may not be traumatised, but I am definitely unnerved and put off by some of his work to be sure. Shot in…
Paranormal Activity (2007) – Oren Peli
The Blair Witch Project may have made found footage horror movies mainstream, but it was Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity that brought it into our bedrooms. And this haunted house/possession story is the next stop in the ghost chapter of DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. There’s a lot of divisiveness about this movie, people either…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The God Complex, and Closing Time
The Doctor (Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) find themselves in a spooky hotel when the TARDIS lands in this week’s episode… The God Complex. Written by Toby Whithouse, this occasionally scary episode first aired on 17 September, 2011. It seems the hotel that the Time Lord and his Companions are stuck in,…
The Mind Reels 