manuelasaez
As usual, I went into this film with very little knowledge of it beforehand. No trailer, no synopsis, Nothing. What I got was a very basic, low budget, uninspired, clichéd and incredibly tiring film that is a prime example of why certain people are not suited to making movies. Making films requires technique, ability and a craft that is not possessed by just anyone, and simply because you have some cameras and a competent cast does not make you a film-maker. Found-Footage is a genre of film that, at its best, is effective and incredibly convincing. At its worst, as this film undoubtedly is, it shows that the writer/director has a combination of several things; a lack of talent, lack of budget, and a lack of knowledge in film composition. The worst offender of this film is that it does not even attempt to do anything original or new; it just retreads well-worn territory in a mundane and clearly artistically-limited way. This movie is one of those films that will be relegate to the annals of notoriety for not only being a bad movie, but for being a waste of time. That, in itself, is the worst offense. A bore from beginning to end. Complete and utter rubbish, and should not be given any time or attention.
begob
Foundish footage of normal folk confronting weird stuff in the woods.Strange rumours are heard by nosey people with cameras. Enquiries are made, the task is set. The car is left in the middle of nowhere, and a journey into Hell begins.Not much to add. The heroes/inquirers aren't of much interest - he's geeky with a conscience, she's ditzy and ambitious. The villain is well played, although his apocalypse is vague. The scares are not too scary.I say foundish footage, because the geek escaped with his camera near the end. As far as I could tell he didn't get captured. Maybe I missed it. I didn't really care.Most interesting aspect was the mist. I guess they got lucky on the day.The end is uninspired, although they did find a use for trembling cam to suggest the coming of ... THE APOCALYPSE!
rushknight
In general, all found footage films require you to lower your expectations. The very nature of this method of filming is to eliminate the need for special effects, large crews and complicated staging."Found footage" is synonymous with "Expect less." That being said, the exercise in minimalism has a tendency to refine and strengthen plots and is more demanding on the actors. So there are strengths that arise.This film shows few of those strengths. The acting is not abhorrent, it's reasonable, but still remained unbelievable. It felt as though it was trying too hard. My personal feeling is that the acting failed because the plot itself was unbelievable and didn't really hold it's own. There are simply too many holes in the idea. Tiny little questions that you end up asking yourself that pull you out of the illusion. "Why did he say that? Why did they do this? Why would ANYBODY do this?" Every found footage film's greatest challenge is a battle with common sense. If the actors don't behave in the way that any normal person would, then the illusion is destroyed. There are simply too many places where common sense doesn't prevail.That and the predictability of the plot kept making me wonder why the actors didn't see it coming. It was fairly obvious which direction this was going to end up going.And lastly, poor choices by the editors. Your movie can't appear to be real when the camera angles keep shifting but the SOUND doesn't alter.It came off as weak. Or even worse, it was unremarkable.
Red_Identity
I kind of expected better just because of the very positive user reviews here on IMDb, or else I wouldn't have had high expectations. It's mildly effective, not at all original. Doing films of this cult-type is very popular, just last year we had The Sacrament, and that one was definitely more effective, even if more of a rehash of the Jonestown events. The acting here is really good though, and probably pushes the film even higher. The cinematography is nice, for a hand-held, and it's also pretty realistic so there's props for that. Ultimately, this just isn't very original and doesn't do much new to like it a lot, but it's decent enough.