Found Footage Split Decisions
By
Kristin Battestella
I
stumbled into watching this trio of recent found footage styled horror films. Unfortunately,
despite some fine performances, period or unusual settings, and interesting
storytelling, I am split on all of them thanks to that very discovered,
undocumentary design that unites them – or fills them with plot holes.
Apollo
18 – The website lunartruth.com
is presented as the source for this 2011 footage recovery, and the faded lines,
pops, and mixes of color or black and white seventies home movies design do
nicely along with of the time gear and delightful early space program
equipment. The cramped shuttle filming is a little too herky jerky and spastic
camera flashes will be difficult for some, but opening interviews with the departing
astronauts establish the mood, personalities, and secret situation quickly –
perhaps too quickly. Sudden goodbyes, landing on the moon, and already being
there for almost a week happen in the first ten minutes before some uneven,
extremely slow moments with nothing happening and only the closed captioning to
indicate the too soft “What was that?” eerie sounds. There’s no sense of awe,
scope, or time to appreciate the possibility of this actually happening because
the found footage must remain with onboard cameras and can’t allow for any
clarifying movement or outside visuals. The choppy, innate presentation
disrupts the intriguing conspiracy aspects – Radio Houston hasn’t exactly been
honest but talk of the Department of Defense material is conveniently cut off
by gaps in the video. Despite the PG-13 rating, there are some invasive bodily
gruesomes and creepy contamination fears, but the chattering rock aliens may
actually be unnecessary. With no scoring, the tiniest of spaces, lack of
oxygen, desperate reliance on damaged equipment, and only three stranded people
in foreign isolation, this should be scarier than it is. The bloody evidence of
a Soviet lunar landing gone awry would have been the much more interesting
antagonist. Paranoia builds nicely thanks to unexplained injuries, missing
objects, and others listening in on the lunar frequencies, but need to know
excuses, stupidity, and nonsensical turns can’t disguise the cheating found
footage plot holes. The deadly hysteria and upsetting outcome would have been
far more dramatic had the audience been able to just clearly see it happen.
Whether this footage is being transmitted back to earth or later magically
retrieved is never explained, but the end credits roll to the tune of We Three
Kings of Orient Are. Say what?
The
Last Exorcism – This 2010 ‘discovered’
religious documentary is awkward and pretentious to start with contradictory
interviews and a quack minister as its subject. Do we scoff or go with the
unscrupulous trick crucifix? Perhaps the lip service narrations provide the
desired fakery tone, but there’s no need to overtake the Louisiana visuals and local interviewees’
superstitious state of mind. Patronizing and preachy telling instead of showing
may put off viewers, but the talk of demons, Lucifer, and exorcist history add
a much needed edge. Bizarre humor and resentment of the camera add dimension as
well – hidden filming or distant silent observation build secrecy as blame,
suggested mistreatments, and apparent abuses mount. Do the investigation
methods of this hack minister encourage superstition where medicine is needed?
Is this crappy dog and pony show giving believers what they want helpful or
risking a young girl’s life? Medical consequences, spooky circumstances,
disturbing familial twists, and freaky camera witnessing escalate the possessed
or crazy debate, but hysterical, herky-jerky visuals and swerving camera action
are distractingly obvious, taking away from the well done demonic ambiguity
because the viewer is overly aware of the confusing, frenetic film making. One
too many twists, red herrings, and foreshadowing that gives everything away
happen too many times in this frustrating 90 minutes, and like all people who
don’t realize they are in a horror movie, no one ever simply leaves or goes for
help. Ironically, I’m not sure this is really a horror movie but rather a
backwater thriller with tacked on supernatural elements, and I don’t care to
see The Last Exorcism Part 2 either.
The
Quiet Ones – This 2014 nuHammer
mix of science and supernatural has a great atmosphere to start. The isolated
British setting, 1974 style, and on form, age appropriate cast lend a serious,
mature tone. Cool, old time equipment and clunky cameras add to the grainy film
feelings and harken toward a classic Hammer design. Where is the line between
evil and mental illness? Do you seek a doctor or a priest for your affliction?
These questions and a touch of kinky suggestion are smartly played instead of
going for today’s depraved sensationalism. The PG-13 rating wasn’t as bad as I
feared, but wise horror viewers can tell the editing is designed to toe the
ratings line with near bathtub nudity, scandalous bedrooms, and only a few
blood and gory scenes. Mixing the traditional shooting with found footage style
designs also seems amiss – calling attention to this gimmicky effect is too on
the nose, and the shaky dropping the camera moments feel more funny and
annoying than scary startling. We’ve seen better crazed or disturbia elsewhere,
so the debate on torturing a young patient in an experiment on possession or
illness feels weak amid the series of loosely held together Ghost Hunters bumps and metaphysical
double talk. The parapsychology possibilities and unfulfilled back-story on
mental repression, evil channeling, and occult history won’t be enough for
horror audiences expecting more scares, and the final half hour unravels into a
mess of this twist, that twist, a ye olde library research montage, and another
twisty twist. This is watchable for younger audiences today, but there is
definitely a lingering, unfinished, or too many hands in the pot behind the
scenes feeling overshadowing the potential here. I kind of feel like I’ve only
seen half the movie and wonder where the rest of the footage is!
Sideways,
dark, and broken lenses remind us of the camera when motion pictures are by
design meant to record the unfolding events whilst making the medium as
nonexistent as possible. As you can guess, as inadvertently as I came into
viewing them, I am now staying as specifically far away from found footage
films as possible. This would be much, much easier, if the entire trend would
just, you know, cease.
No comments:
Post a Comment