This is a rare instance where the ending seems to ruin the production.
I’m getting tired of found-footage movies. It’s hard to do them well, and I’ve started to feel like they’re just a side effect of having no budget. I stuck with this one because it seemed to start off well enough. The characters get their cameras, they play around with them a little. There’s a brief, violent scene to pique curiosity.
But then, there’s something that just doesn’t seem that interesting about the development of the idea. The subjects get their threats, they’re instructed to keep filming, there’s noise outside, phone lines are cut… but it all seems pretty aimless. The exception is the plot for clown, who gets a variety of tasks that are supposed to be embarrassing or strange. There was a lot more potential for him, and I had hoped that his plot would intersect with the others more firmly.
The ending ruins the movie. First, there’s a completely bizarre series of gunshots that somehow results in four people being shot by two guns. The logistics of this scene make very little sense. It requires that each person with a gun shoots an unarmed person first. This could have been handled better, and some clever direction would fix the implausible nature of this scene. To compound this problem, there’s a postscript, in which we learn who has orchestrated these events. We never learn why. There’s also an air of absurdity to it. Once we learn who is behind it, it makes everything else even more implausible.
I don’t know why I’m getting so soured on found-footage. I still have a lot of respect for the Paranormal Activity movies, and I enjoy the V/H/S movies. Prior to watching this, I was going to watch The Houses That October Built, but once I found it was a found-footage, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it.
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