Simply A Masterpiece

Overrated and overhyped

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The middle class Emmy (Audrey Marie Anderson) receives a video camera at home and her husband Tom (Todd Stashwick) starts filming. They believe they won a prize from the mall. The college student Beth (Alexandra Lydon) is alone and bored in the empty campus and also receives a camera. Out of the blue, they are instructed to film and not call the police; otherwise they will die. Meanwhile the unemployed Leonard (Barak Hardley) that lives with his mother receives a clown outfit and make-up and instructions to receive ten thousand dollars. After moments of tension, their lives are tragically entwined. Who is the stranger behind the prank? "Mockingbird" is among the most annoying and stupid movies with shaky camera. The story is not scary but irritating; the plot is not believable; and the conclusion is silly and unrealistic. Only the classical music score saves in this awful movie. My vote is two.Title (Brazil): "Perseguidos Pela Morte" ("Chased by Death")

I watched this the other day with two friends and it is honestly the worst horror film I have ever seen. It barely deserves to be placed in the 'horror' category as the only part that was remotely creepy was the guy dressed as a clown, even my friend who is terrified of most films only flinched about once through the entire thing. When we watched the trailer the film looked gripping and relatively original. However, we were highly disappointed. The plot is dull and the ending predictable. My friend actually fell asleep about half way through. I'm writing this review so you do not waste your time and money on this film. Watch something else.

After seeing the cover and trailer for this film it seemed like a great pick.. How wrong was I! It starts and stops a lot - definitely lacks continuity - and looks as though it was made in 1995 never mind just set then. The actual film is okay I guess, it all makes you want to keep watching despite the poor storyline to see who is behind these mysterious cameras, gifts and notes being left on people's door steps. The highlight for me really was how excited the guy dressed as a clown got doing his treasure hunt so to speak. The couple and young girl who were being tormented in their homes however - very boring. A few jumpy moments but nothing terribly scary or watch worthy unfortunately. The end was particularly confusing and disappointing for me.. 2 guns yet 4 people get shot dead all at once? And don't even get me started on a group of children being behind the whole thing! Absolutely ridiculous and very unrealistic.. It's an okay watch, but it won't be near the top of my recommendation list I can assure you, and I'm certainly not in a hurry to watch it again.

It's funny. I've been on IMDb since 2003 and I haven't written a single review until this one. To be honest with you, I wish I had chosen a better movie to review. Oh, well...Mockingbird is the spiritual sequel to the director's own hit, The Strangers. The plot is quite simple: Four people are given a video-camera and a simple set of instructions, which, of course, turns into a night of terror for everybody involved. The thing with the found-footage movies is that there needs to be a strong reason for all the characters to record everything. REC, Noroi The Curse and Okaruto, the found-footage movies I'd highly recommend to everyone over this one, are a good example of movies that are convincing to the viewers. In Mockingbird, the director Bryan Bertino tries to alleviate this issue by making the cameras impossible to turn off, and also by having them equipped with the receivers which enable the antagonists to see what the main characters are doing. Even with all that, one still cannot shake off the feeling that the characters in this movie would have been better off running the hell out of the house instead of filming everything. The other trouble with the technology in this movie is the following: Bertino set his own movie in 1995, which was a baffling decision since this doesn't have any impact on the plot aside from introducing a huge plot hole - the movie takes course over several hours and the batteries somehow don't run out? And if the movie is set in 1995 and is found-footage, why not film it VHS-style? A huge opportunity missed there. The entire movie is implausible, mostly because the plot depends on the main characters doing stupid things. There is one especially contrived situation involving the clown taking photos of certain two characters which made it really hard to suspend my disbelief. Sadly, it's not the only such scene in the movie.I won't spoil the finale for those who decide to watch the movie, but I'll be shocked if anyone is satisfied with it. It's not only ridiculous, it's downright insulting (for multiple reasons), and therefore doesn't have the impact of the similarly themed The Strangers.Btw, don't believe the highly positive review on Bloody-Disgusting, folks, it's obviously heavily biased. This one is a stinker and I'm not surprised it was shelved for two years before getting a VOD release.The reason why I haven't given the lowest score to this movie is that despite everything, Bertino managed to create a few solid, suspenseful scenes. He clearly has talent for directing and I hope he gets to direct more movies. If only he had written a better script...