31 Days of Horror Day 26 RWD 2015 - REVIEW

Anyone who has followed along with TC for any amount of time, knows that I am not a fan of found footage films. It's an oversaturated subgenre littered with subpar films that will always be (either by filmmakers themselves or media) held in comparison to The Blair Witch Project but rarely exceed it's greatness. Don't get me wrong, there are some FF films that I enjoy, [Rec], Grave Encounters and The Hunted, are good examples. However, those are rare finds in the almost infinite flow of these types of films.

Chris (Adam Hartley) and Ricky (Matt Stuertz) are two wannabe filmmakers who host a web series called "Ghost Goofs". The series has them hunting ghosts but not to talk to them or help them cross over, it's to prank them (yes you read that right). The two head off into the woods to investigate the legend of a family man turned cannibal while stranded in the middle of nowhere. Turns out Chris scheduled the wrong dates for their interview subjects so they instead go wandering around the woods in search of a different story. What they find instead is themselves.

Sounds like the plot to a John Hughes coming of age film, no? Well, it's far, far from it. Now, I'm not advocating hand holding by a filmmaker. I'm not asking them to divulge every teeny bit of info so the audience can follow along; BUT the audience does need to know what's going on. They need to be able to connect with some aspect of the film in order to enjoy it. By introducing RWD with a line like "Blair Witch move over", directors Hartley and Stuertz set major hurdles for themselves. If you're going to place your film in the league of what is arguably one of the best FF films of the entire subgenre, you better deliver. Unfortunately RWD doesn't.

When you have a cast of two that have to carry an entire film, those characters need to be built in a way where they're, at the very least, likable. At first, Chris and Ricky just come off as two goofballs doing what they love but twenty or so minutes into the film, they turn into giant self centered douche bags and you really just want them to die. There is this epic event going on around them and the best the writers can come up with is to have them prank themselves. It literally makes no sense and in turn causes the whole story to fall apart. I do applaud them for coming up with an original idea however there just wasn't enough substance there to sustain it for it's 77 minute run time. In my opinion, 57 minutes or so of this film could've been left on the cutting room floor and RWD would've made a pretty stellar short film.

The Hunted 2013 - REVIEW

If you look up films that are comprised of the "found footage" and "based on a true story" premise, you'll most likely find a very long list of ones that I dislike the most. The last time I enjoyed one was in 1999 when The Blair Witch Project was released. It was a creepy, cool, new thing but flash forward 15 years and both of those concepts are way over played.

The Hunted centers around Jake (Josh Stewart) and Stevie (Ronnie Gene Blevins), two hunters out to shoot the pilot of their new hunting show. Dragging camera equipment along with them they set out into the dense woods of West Virginia in search of a massive buck named "Movie Star". Things are looking favorable until they start hearing screams coming from the darkness. After hearing it a couple of nights in a row, Jake insists that it's the scream of a bobcat but Stevie isn't convinced and goes in search of answers. During his talks with the locals, he discovers that Movie Star isn't the only thing haunting the woods but there is also the malevolent spirit of a vengeful ghost that roams in the darkness.

Stewart, first time writer and director of the film, managed to create very strong and likable characters whose dramatically different personalities enhanced both the tense and funny moments throughout the film; and the duo does an outstanding job playing off one another. What I enjoyed most about it was how both main characters propelled the story forward but in different ways. Jake's goal was getting the footage for the pilot while Stevie led the film into the supernatural direction by coaxing folklore out of the locals.

Nowadays, it's hard not to compare films from this sub genre to others. Films like Paranormal Activity and Quarantine have made it almost impossible to appreciate something as subtle and suggestive as say, The Blair Witch Project. But much like it's predecessor, The Hunted is a slow build until the final act when all bets are off.

The Hunted, however, is not without it's hiccups. The main issue I had was with the antagonist. It's hard for an audience to connect with a situation when they don't know what they're suppose to be afraid of. Viewers will know that something is out there but it's mostly subjective... like Pontypool. You get a sense of what's going on and that it's pretty bad but the rest is left up to the imagination. That doesn't necessarily lessen the value of the film though. Some people just aren't as imaginative as others and likely won't get it. At least not until the final act where it turns into a crazy, intense nail biter that's guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Stewart has clearly learned the ins and outs of filmmaking during his many years as an actor and I applaud his efforts to branch out into other areas. While not a perfect film, The Hunted is leaps and bounds better than most I've seen and definitely worth a watch. Word to the wise, watch out for that Stewart gaze. Those dreamy eyes can make it a bit hard to concentrate, or maybe it's just me. Either way, this is a film I would've loved to have to added to the Twisted Tails Film Festival line up had I known about it in time.

The Hunted is available for download on Amazon and iTunes and on DVD at Walmart.

Sleepaway Camp IV: The Suvivor 2012 - Review

How long I have waited for a good sequel to the Sleepaway  Camp film series.  The webmaster at http://www.sleepawaycampfilms.com/ decided to put together the little recorded footage from Sleepaway Camp 4 that never came to be.  Filming started in 1992 and after 1 day commenced when they ran out of money.  This movie was put together with clips from the original three movies and the part 4 footage inserted in there as well.  This is my review of my opinion of the completed project.

The main character in this film is Allison (Carrie Chambers).  The beginning of the movie explains that Allison is suffering from horrifying nightmares of murders from a summer camp and her doctor tells her that she is to revisit the summer camp were the murders happen so that she can have closure to her nightmares.  Allison is laying out in the sun at a lake remembering the events (through clips of the previous 3 movies).  Angela was never caught.  Could Allison be Angela, or could she be a victim that escaped?  She is going to find out the hard way!

Now let me start by saying the stock footage as well as actual footage for The Survivor looks horrible.  The sound is super crappy and everything is so grainy it looks worse than a VHS version. Sleepaway Camp was never noted for having really good acting by Carrie Chambers is fucking awful.  She is nice to look at but that is about it.  No one in the actual movie can act.  The best acting comes from the clips of the first 3 movies. I really can't comment on the directing because being its just footage from an unfinished movie there really is none.  The group that put this together did put a nice back story to have a jumping off point.  It all goes downhill from there.

Having said all of that, this movie was not made to be a masterpiece.  It was put together to bring closure to a movie that was never finished.  Sometimes its just better to leave well enough alone.  I was excited when I heard this was coming out but i also knew it was not going to be the best movie I had ever seen.  I still expected it to look better than The Blair Witch Project.  If more than $500.00 was spent making this then I would be amazed.  The fact that they can put a price on this of  $15.00 is ridiculous.  People will pay that much for it because there are loyal fans to the series, and even fans that actually like this piece of shit.  The fact that they put the production footage in the box set back in 2002 I thought was awesome.  Why ruin that?  Why take footage from 3 great films and lump it with this piece of shit.  Take my advice save your money and if the price ever got down to a couple dollars I would say consider buying it. I am a loyal fan of the series and wanted to like this so much that I even watched it again yesterday to give it another chance.  I did not even get through an hour of it before I was bored enough to turn it off and watch something that was actually good.  The reviews on part 4 have been mixed so far, and you can chalk this one up in the negative column.  Stay twisted everyone!