ericrnolan Right up until its final act, "Mr. Jones" (2013) amazed me by how good it was. Here was a creative, thoughtful and extremely frightening found-footage horror movie. It was so damned good that I was surprised that I hadn't heard about it before.The story idea was fresh and interesting — a young couple moves to an isolated forest cabin, only to discover that a mysterious neighbor is "Mr. Jones," a legendary anonymous folk artist. This hermit produces grotesque artworks — "scarecrows," totems and dreamcatchers that he then mails to apparently random recipients around the world. Not all of them are pleased with their macabre gifts, and their benefactor's identity and motivations become the stuff of urban legends. (Try to imagine H.R. Giger with a modus operandi like Banksy.) There is a lot more going on here than a cliché yarn about a supernatural bogeyman.The script is smart, the story is well developed, and the tension builds slowly and effectively as the tale unfolds for our two protagonists. My only quibble is that the couple does incredibly stupid things, and are cheerfully curious about discoveries that should scare the hell out of them. But that is a failing of so many horror films that I decided not to let it bother me.Then the movie loses its way. I'm disappointed to share here that this otherwise great film suffers because of its disjointed, meandering and consequently frustrating climax. It's too long, it's too confusing, and it spends far too much time repeating redundant shots and scare-moments.We see one character, for example, pursued by multiple adversaries … repeatedly. Well, these adversaries stop being scary when the viewer eventually arrives at the conclusion that either A.) they can't catch this person or B.) they can't hurt this person.At another point, a character must do something urgent, but receives contradictory instructions from different sources. This plot development could have been damned unnerving in the context of our story, but it's nearly lost in a confusing barrage of repetitive images and sounds. Writer-director Karl Mueller strives to immerse the viewer in a kind of surreal "nightmare." But he makes a mistake that is common for surreal horror films — portraying confused and disoriented characters does not always require the viewer to be confused and disoriented. A shorter, sparser, cleaner script would have saved what might have been a classic.Oh, well. This movie was still fun enough. Again … much of it is quite excellent. And another viewer might not be as turned off by its conclusion as I was. I still recommend "Mr. Jones," if a little reluctantly. I'd rate it a 7 out of 10.

sean73267326 Mr. Jones is now streaming on Netflix, and when I came upon it I think I was taken in by the striking cover art (it's not the one listed here on IMDb). It's of one of the "statues" in the movie, silhouetted against a plain background, with some relatively cheery looking writing underneath it. It's a hell of a poster, and a great advertisement for the film.It's a pity I can't say as many good things about the film, because I really wanted to. Something about the film doesn't quite click, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is. The action is good, the villain is creepy, and there's a good story. All ingredients that a horror movie needs to nail. Even the acting is good, much better than it needs to be.As I said though, it just doesn't... click. The format chosen for this film was a really, really bad choice. It's completely overdone, and it doesn't suit many films at all(I can think of 2 films where this choice worked). All it really does here is serve to rip us straight out of the action on screen, made even worse by those obligatory moments where the camera dramatically cuts out and random, documentary-style interviews littered throughout the middle sections.The closing sections of the film are also strewn with bad choices. It slips into a slinky, Lynchian nightmare for the last half hour, which is good on a purely visceral level (it's well made) but it feels practically unrelated to the rest of the film and offers us no progression on what we've already seen. It's all style and no substance, which is a shame when the film actually sets itself up so well.This is a film that may be enjoyed by some, but not by most. Some films don't need an ending, and do well by leaving out a definitive one. This is not one of them.

Guillermo Bosque Summary: Mr. Jones is definitely one of the worst found-footage films I've ever seen. 10/100 (F+)I don't want to waste more of my time reviewing this "movie", so I'll go straight to the point. The first minutes of Mr. Jones are quite well done and the main leads are likable. Unfortunately, it falls flat after the second half because it becomes very confusing, the whole plot is difficult to follow, the film turns out dull and uninteresting. This is one of the worst found-footage films I have seen, and I have seen a lot. Seriously, the last 30 minutes are a torture but I gave it a chance because I love found-footage movies, I saw it until the end credits. Sadly I didn't find a payoff.Mr. Jones (the dude, not the film) is terrifying, he is creepy and in some scenes he gave me the creeps, but the worst thing about this flick is how that is the best thing about it. Another issue is that the characters became atrociously stupid in the second half and they started to make brainless decisions. I just read the plot line on IMDb, it's so freaking awesome!, maybe with another director it would have been great. Moving on, the final act is very strange, these dumb characters begin to hallucinate, then they leave the found-footage style and after several minutes of boredom, it finally ends.Mr. Jones ends up being confusing, boring and a disappointment. There are only a couple scenes that I liked, but they don't make any sense. One of these scenes is when the guy goes down to a weird place underground and he finds a dead baby. Anyway, Mr. Jones had potential but it was so boring, tedious and it lacks of character development. I really like the camera work but the characters are dumb and the plot is confusingly strange. In conclusion, Mr. Jones has a few scary moments and good acting, however the film wastes its creepy villain in a confusing, uninteresting tale. (F+)

Lumaxorb Do not waste your time on this one! I love horror movies and am a huge fan of new 'things' in movies but this movie, Mr. Jones, is nothing but awful and doesn't bring horror, anything new, or entertainment during its runtime... ... ... I strongly recommend watching something else. If you do decide to watch this awful movie, do not expect a deep or even coherent story or ending because it does not have much to it. Highly disappointing lack of plot in my opinion. And what plot there is isn't even that coherent or intelligent (as pointed out and criticized by numerous user reviews on this site). The acting in this film is fine, I can't say it's near the worst I've seen, but instead the problem is lack of a coherent and meaningful plot! Very frustrating flick I thought.