Truly Dreadful Film

Nice effects though.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Visually f*gly mediocrity that makes a crucial mistake of lying to the viewer. It's one thing to intelligently (and fairly) manipulate the viewer into throwing suspicion on the wrong characters, but it's an entirely different matter when deceptive plot-devices are used which in hindsight make zero sense. The guy we're supposed to think is possessed (but isn't) behaves in a way that eludes all logic: he kills a cop for no reason, and then goes into a store as if to rob it and kill everyone in it. That's just DUMB. Just because he's an a-hole and because his tongue is cut out we're supposed to accept his totally irrational behaviour - which fits like a glove to what one would expect a demon? This is the sort of nonsense that clueless, non-talent writers come up with. The cast is weak too, a bunch of boring and bland mediocrities.

Legendary suspense director James Wan brings us yet another great scare fest. Great atmosphere. Great cast. Great premise. Bloody great scares! The found footage scenes here and there were highly effective and added significantly to the eeriness. It literally gave me goosebumps. The film captured my attention from the opening scene until that great twist ending. Loved it!

I ADORE the opening of this film....and then we are thrown into that awful, extended, whining and sobbing interrogation with the main guy and the cop. O-M-G that annoying sequence could have been cut down by a third and still made sense. I love films that mix the use of traditional cinema and found footage. This one does it ...ermm...kind of well. My only issue was that when it switches to FF it was so ugly looking and sounding. We get it, it is supposed to be video camera footage, but we are still watching a movie and want it to look decent. No one believes FF is real anymore, I wish filmmakers would stop spending so much time trying to make it seem real. Overall, this is a great popcorn flick. I recommend.

With October coming up I started gathering up some Horror flicks that a friend would enjoy.Learning that she is a fan of The Purge movies,I took a look at Frank Grillo's IMDb page. Initially seeing a page of Action and Drama offerings,I spotted a "new" Horror film right near the top,which led to me unleashing the demon.The plot:Arriving at a murder scene in an abandoned house, Detective Mark Lewis finds a survivor called John in among the three murdered victims. Whilst calling Dr. Elizabeth Klein to interview John,and asking for backup,Lewis finds Videotapes of recordings that the gang made.Checking the footage of their seance,as Lewis continues to search for other survivors in the house, Klein learns that John's mum was a lone survivor of a massacre that took place 20 years ago,in the same house.View on the film:Whilst the kids give good,but not that distinctive performances, Frank Grillo keeps the chill in the air of the post-murder scene bubbling away with a great tough performance as Detective Mark Lewis,who Grillo sends out to chomp anyone who stands in the way of solving the case,with Lewis's first encounter with demonic evil leading to Grillo kicking some demon arse! Looking at things from a more compassionate side,the gorgeous Maria Bello gives a terrific performance as Dr. Elizabeth Klein,whose belief in there being something "behind the walls" leads to Bello giving Klein an understanding edge,which crumbles as the horns appear.Taking inspiration from producer James Wan's adventures in peculiar homes,co-writer/(along with Max La Bella & Doug Simon) director Will Canon and cinematographer Michael "Oculas" Fimognari tape the Haunted House with the gritty Found Footage genres.Sending the gang round the house with black and white cameras,Canon drapes the house in a creepy atmosphere,as the grainy quality of their recordings raise doubts over what exactly is moving in the background.Looking up from the recordings, Canon gives the house a decayed shine,where gliding camera moves dip in and out of the low hanging shadows where the demons lurk. Looking at events from the aftermath perspective,the screenplay by Canon/Simon and Bella calls out a chilling Found Footage Haunted House mystery,where burnt slivers of film give a glimpse to the chaos that unfolded in the house. Inter-cutting the events in the house with Lewis's investigation,the writers bring the supernatural horrors into focus,as each discovery Lewis makes edges another memory out of John's scrambled mind. Balancing the supernatural demonic screams with a gritty mystery,the writers disappointingly push everything over the edge with a left-field twist from afar,which tries a last gasp effort to change sub- genres,but ends up burning down all the intriguing horror mystery that had been bubbling away for a flat final shock which takes the horns from the demonic.