| RATING: | 40% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Plagiarizing Activity
Yet another tiresome Blair Witch Project rip-off that makes even less sense than the first film made - as well as being pretty predictable.
The causes and motivations for what happens are never explained and so we are simply left with an empty mystery that does not allow us to care for the thinly-drawn characters. The actors do their best, but their roles are not empathetic enough to attract our emotional engagement: The plot development is weak and repetitious and so we soon cease to care. Allied to this is the decided lack of a unifying theme that would allow us to enjoy the film at all.
The central gimmick of a camera being present as the story unfolds is about as likely as a car crash being filmed. One would have to know when, where and at what time such an event was about to happen. This explains why such events are rarely caught on camera – except by cctv. The greater use of the latter, in the Western world, explains why these films continue to be made without any thought for logic or creativity. This reflects the generalized meltdown of creativity in US movies that struggle to find new forms to replace hackneyed plots – and fail.
In this movie, we are expected to believe that rather than film events unfolding, events actually unfold for the benefit of the camera. This shows what a silly first-person dramatic device this is and that its application to cinema as a whole is somewhat limited. It is also hard to take seriously a lover who would much rather film what is going on in his house than actually do something about it. The only good thing to be said in favor of the largely-static camerawork is that it works well when we hear something off camera and wait for it to enter center stage. These are the only frissons of suspense offered by this empty spectacle.
A movie made by someone who wants to become a filmmaker but who has no idea about creating and telling stories. The alternate ending makes much more sense (as per Fatal Attraction) than the theatrical close, but is less exciting and less visually interesting. And visual interest is the only thing this watching-paint-dry film is really all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment