Change Your Image
trvdeadu
Reviews
Things Unknown (2013)
Cool find on Tubi.
Well made movie with some nice ideas spread though-out. Several times I had "oh cool, new thing" moments and found myself genuinely surprised once or twice. Cast was great and quite likeable for the most part (rare for found footage) and I actually cared about what was happening to them though I did wish the PBR Neil was drinking had got him to chill bit. The guy was pretty full on for the first two acts.
The whole thing has a pleasant disorientating feel to it that really helped with the mood and as with most good found footage, you find yourself straining to see more but are still left satisfied with what you do see.
Mining Tubi for good found footage movies can be a torturous task sometimes but this one, this one is back on the list for a rewatch.
Dead Stop (2011)
Horror trope #16: the hateful characters die
It's like they had a list of stereotypical characters and ticked them off; the outsider, the old people, the bad guy, the good girl, the token and the hero. Still, I did finish it and despite the horrid sepia filter, the fact that being lost is hard when you are camping next to POWER LINES that are so frequently shot that I started thinking they were taking the piss, I did enjoy the ride. If (and that's a big if) you can forgive the many plot holes, obnoxious characters & their stupid choices.......it's not that bad ride of a movie.
The Watch (2020)
What a stupid thing to do
I just want to know why, why did they do this? Such a dreadful wasted opportunity. It's one redeeming feature is that it will fade into obscurity quickly. Hopefully those that decided they knew better than Sir Terry will fade from the industry as well.
The Devil's Familiar (2020)
Well, I got through it
Getting through it earned it a star. Having the saddest little Satanic ritual, complete with cute sacrificial woman, where everyone kept their pants/shirts on earned them another for originality and the fact that they (I suspect) did a bit of Guerrilla filmmaking in an open range zoo for no readily apparent reason other than everyone likes giraffes got them a third. Honestly, decent idea made with no money, earnest film student acting and what I can only assume is a bunny rabbit onesie as the main event plus, a tick box checklist of found footage tropes made it kinda fun in a perverted sort of way so I regret nothing.
Give it a watch if you feel dangerous but, keep a bottle close by.
The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan (2018)
Well made, original found footage.
This is a solid, fairly fast paced found footage that does a lot of things right. The first thing I noticed was that the characters are all (with the obvious endgame exception) nice people and you can truly invest in their welfare. All to often these movies are populated with knuckleheads you are glad to see die (movie world naturally). But in this one, I want them to survive and it's been a while since I've felt that for a character.
The editing is kept to a minimum to help give the 'found on a memory stick" back story credence and even though some of the blank/long pause shorts are, well.......long, they are still part of the what would be expected of finding genuine footage and help with the scenario setup.
Story wise, nothing too new here but not done to death supernatural foolishness that I'm sure most of have seen plenty of anyway and I really enjoyed what they did come up with.
Short version, good stuff that gave me a few laughs and a tight chest moment several times.
Silver Woods (2017)
Very original indie flick
Enjoyable movie with fresh story. Well made and if the acting is a little stiff at times, they still did well for the money they spent.
There's no fat in the buildup and the end payoff a real WTF moment.
Eli (2019)
Surprising, original and fun to watch
Cool Movie. Cast and crew all know what they are doing and it shows. The story is interesting and drip feeds you enough to keep you invested the getting to the end. The end, well I really enjoyed the payoff. There's a few superfluous little story lines I'd like tied up (I think a repeat view might help with that) but over all, well worth the ride.
Well crafted, original and fun as hell.
Black Mountain Side (2014)
Is that it!
Look this is a decent to slightly better than average movie, the tension is built nicely, confusion and uneasiness reign supreme with the possibility of some great revelation dangled like a carrot in front of the donkey that we am are most brilliantly. I was (not literally, it's not that good) on the edge of my seat by the time of the second amputation (sorry, spoilers?) but after the last frantic moments, it stopped. The great reveal was stupid, there was nothing "Lovecraftian" about this movie, it was more like Bambi on Ice and anyone who says it is really should go read Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath to see what Lovecraftian actually means. I can see what they where trying do but it just comes across as "money's gone, to hell with this movie let's go home". An ok movie let down by an ending that was not worthy of the quite skilfully built sense of danger previously setup.