Nathan Adams Good movie/plot, but poor directing. Could have been more dramatic! For a low budget movie that relies on video camera and stuff, a little more action could have elevated the movie into a block buster. The role of the Bill is very ambiguous. He's not supposed to die the way he died. He should have been given the opportunity to defend himself in a more dramatic way or even be given a better edge as a payback to all the suffering he endured in the hands of James while in school. Police investigation should have been more thorough and done in parallel to what James was doing. Overall it's a good movie with intermittent scenes of actions and suspense, but could have been spinned in a more dramatic manner

will_kori I love being scared, but I hate slasher flicks or movies where they are just finding new and more gruesome ways to kill people.388 Arletta Avenue is the very best kind of thriller. Criteria for a great horror pic include: 1. Something that could really happen (no risen from the dead or supernatural beings).2. Characters who behave rationally. Who don't choose to do something completely stupid that nobody would ever do.3. A plot that makes sense. (Some of the other reviews on the site are obviously written by people who didn't "get it". Especially the ending. It made perfect sense, just not what those people expected. I thought it was a brilliant and terrifying ending) This is a movie that plays with your mind. You become so involved because something like this could happen. What if you were being watched? If someone had access to your house and would come in without you ever knowing? If they set up cameras everywhere and could see and hear everything? Deakin does a fantastic job, so frustrated and bewildered about what the hell is going on. Long after the movie was over, we were still talking about it.

paul david The only good things about this movie are the directing and the acting by the lead character Nick Stahl who plays the frustrated (and frustrating) husband James. I actually watched the movie a second time to see if it was as bad as I thought the first time and if i missed anything first time around. Nope, apart from a few minor details.Quite frankly, James Deacon is an idiot and probably deserved some kind of incrimination but what happened to both James and his wife is disturbing in the sense that it could be acted out like this in real life without neighbours, friends or work colleagues being able to rationalize what was happening.Actually the Bill Burroughs character, I assumed, was critical to the plot of the movie in relation to the song which was played - what was the song title by the way? This was no ordinary stalker or voyeur, not sure actually if he was either or both - and he certainly repeated his crimes. Why did he do it? Why and how did he select his victims? Was it purely entertainment? What would such a person get out of it? I was very dismayed with the ending. Personally, I thought police officers went around in pairs - and were not any neighbours or other folk who could have known what went on? How did James not suspect all the cameras hidden in his car when he was suspicious early on about the music CD? I do not agree the characters were developed. At work, James looked out of place and dysfunctional, while what did Amy do all day anyway? Bill was the trump card for me, he said little but his acting was spot on and for me he was the star of this movie, not James Deacon or any of the other characters.My guess also is that the time frame of the story was meant to be over several days and not any longer, gauged from the many reaction of Amys sister Catherine.The film is enjoyable and worth seeing. It is not as dull as some have made out but it is no blockbuster. Nevertheless, thought provoking.

Boba_Fett1138 This is a movie that rides on the trend of the whole found footage/hidden camera movie sub-genre. But is it doing anything new or interesting enough with it? Not really.It's of course hard to come up with something new and remaining fresh and interesting, since most had been done with the concept already and there is only so much you can do with it, since it's a quite restricting concept. It's restricted with its settings and movements and it is hard to keep things interesting for about 90 minutes, without starting to repeat yourself. This movie however does become a bit tiresome after a short while.It mostly becomes a tiresome movie since it maintains its 'mystery' for its entire running time. You don't know what is going on exactly, or what direction the movie will be heading at. This all sounds like some good and positive points about the movie but it's actually more sort of annoying, since basically everything can happen at the end, when the big 'reveal' comes. The movie doesn't drop any hints and stuff just happens, without you feeling involved with any of it. I kept thinking to myself; there better be a good resolution to all of this by the end, that explains everything as well, to let all of the events make sense. But no, in my opinion the movie takes a cheap way out and it absolutely wasn't satisfying enough and it's the sort of ending that leaves more questions than answers, especially when you start thinking back about the movie.It of course still could had been good and worked out all if the movie was a bit more tense. For a thriller it is surely lacking some good tension at times and doesn't ever gets you involved enough as a viewer, though the movie still tries to achieve this through its concept. The concept and camera-position are supposed to place you in the mind of the stalker. It's a voyeuristic movie but again, since you don't know any of the motivations or reasons for the events, you don't ever feel involved with it. It just doesn't do a good enough job at making and keeping things interesting and fresh enough to keep you interested in the story, its mystery and to what will happen with its characters.I did like Nick Stahl in his role, on a more positive note. He has to carry most of the movie entirely on his own and does a pretty good job with it. Too bad that the movie didn't really knew what to do with his character. It's not the worst thing you will ever see but it just isn't exactly a good or original enough movie to recommend either.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/