Movie Review: SX_Tape (2012; Well Go USA)

...the pursuit, and subsequent taking on of yet another entry, from a tired, repetitive, well-worn and now-way-too-often emulated sub-genre, seems...well, seems synonymously not unlike that of the tired meanderings and lamentations of a certain well-known commercial pastry proprietor...you remember this guy, right?? Up at the wee hours of the morning. dragging his feet out of the bedroom and into the bathroom...murmuring an unenthusiastic groan of "gotta make the donuts"...slowly slogging his way out the front door, and into his car..."gotta make the donuts"...a lethargic, waddling shuffle through the front door of the shop..."gotta make the donuts". Day in, and day out...same old, same old, right??...

...indeed, a comparative and poignant template, not that far removed from applicably describing the readied expectations and ho-hum routine one must endure, in going into yet another supernatural and/or paranormal-themed 'found footage' film production. We've seen them all, right?? Oh, heck...Mickey Mouse roll call, sound off now: ...the shaky, nausea-inducing camera work. The film's singularly assigned or assumed camera operator, barely seen in the film, but insistent upon having the camera affixed to his or her face, to catch every moment, whether important or trivial. The token complainer, often the aim and focus of the camera operator, whining incisively about "why do you have to film this??", "do you have to film everything", and yet, still insistent upon being the 'director', with a pointed finger, saying 'film this', 'film that', and the occasional slinky, sexy, sultry and revealing 'uh, film this'...not to mention the wayward 'did you see/hear that??', only to reveal that it's nothing...right before something does happen. The random inner-splicing of personal footage, amidst the 'discovered' footage of intent, suggesting that the camera operator just grabbed the nearest tape in a huff, little realizing that there was 'personal stuff' already on it (...what, no Radio Shack, on route to the ghostly scene?). And of course, the reveal of the nasty little invasive supernatural entity...playfully and mysteriously moving things, at first...then, progressively frustrated and angered, either materializing at the most impromptu moments, or possessing the nearest hapless person within reach, giving the cautious voyeurs a hard time, and rushing suddenly  & frighteningly face-first into the camera lens...all creeped out, ghastly-looking, unnervingly black-eyeballed and hideously toothsome. Uh, did we forget anything??...

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Movie Review: Cannibal Holocaust (1980, Grindhouse Releasing)

...ah, yes!! It was a sweltering mid-80's summer sizzle, when this viewer, per chance, received an updated mail-order flyer from one of this ardent collector's numerous bootleg 'connections' (...my favorite, at the time, was the exclusive and 'rare' bootleg offerings from published & respected horror auteur and spokesperson, Chas. Balun); it was a time, genre-wise, on the final gasp of gutsy theatrical releases...those films, daring not to adorn themselves with one of those pish-posh MPAA ratings...wearing instead, the seductive banner, sternly reading, "...there is no explicit sex in this picture; however there are scenes of extreme violence, which may be considered shocking. No one under 17 will be admitted". And an eye-rolling 'ya-dada, ya-dada, ya-dada...'. George Romero called it out, inaugurally, with his zombie masterpiece from 1978, "Dawn of the Dead", and of course, anything produced by Italian goremeister Lucio Fulci, post-"Psychic", was domestically labeled as such (..."Zombie", "City of the Living Dead/The Gates of Hell", "The Beyond", "House by the Cemetery", et al.). The quirky 1982 Spanish slasher, "Pieces" wore that badge of proudly shameless honor, as did the gory 1985 domestic splatter classic, "The Mutilator". And of course, later, in what was considered the 'year of the living dead', so did 1985's "Re-Animator", and the George Romero classic, "Day of the Dead"...with some of these aforementioned 'unrated' titles, wimping out, by quickly being pulled from theaters, and later re-released by 'hard R' versions...

...and yet, despite regular engagement of such deliciously visceral, higher-profile theatrical genre fare...for this ardent devotee of the crimson-drenched macabre, as probably was the case for most people of similar ilk, there was always that underlining desire to push that visceral threshold even further, and at the same time, a veiled and hesitant-to-admit apprehension to do so. Now, admittedly around this time, this viewer had indeed been 'hovering' over an at-the-time-only-available-underground title...intriguingly, albeit graphically entitled, "Cannibal Holocaust"; it compellingly and daringly claimed that this one was the 'one that goes all the way!!' Oh, really?? Considering the exploitative breakdown of the title...we're talking 'cannibals', and a 'holocaust', right...as well as the suggestive banner, describing how far the film supposedly goes...well, that's an impressive boast...oh hell, I'm game!!...

Movie Review: The Upper Footage (2014)

Review By: Rob Sibley


 So what are the the two things I hate most in this world? Found footage movies and rich yuppie kids who are given way to much money and power way to young. It's all over mainstream media these days. You see pop singers or talent-less boy bands making it big not for the talent but because they have money and enjoy punching limo drivers in the back of the head while they are not busy doing 8-balls or H or pick any drug.

"The Upper Footage" I will say right now... will make it onto my top films of 2014. Why? Because it feels like Bret Easton Ellis grabbed a camera and filmed a night out of him partying (when he was younger). The film oozes the vibe of early Ellis. If Less Then Zero was a found footage film... you'd have something like "The Upper Footage".

Movie Review: To Jennifer (2013, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

It's a tough one reviewing a film that's already made it onto your "worst" list of films of 2013. But I'll give this one a go, it will be a bit more brief then my usual reviews out of respect for the filmmakers and talent involved.

Joey (Chuck Pappas) suspects his girlfriend Jennifer (Jessica Cameron) is cheating on him. He enlists the help of his cousin played by the director (pretty good performance) to help him make a video diary of it all and expose Jennifer in the process.

This film is 76 minutes long including credits. It would have worked better at a 20 minute short film. It's commendable that Bressack after much success with "Hate Crime" would attempt an experimental film. "Shot entirely on the I-phone 5". So the film plays out basically like a bad series of youtube videos. The lead actor is highly annoying, it's hard to feel bad for him when he's bitching all the time. Bressack as the cousin Steven, is much better. Personally, the film would have been better if he played the lead role.

Movie Review: Stripped (2012, Inception Media Group)

...OK, people!! All hands raised high!! Who, within read-shot, believes that the 'found footage' horror sub-genre, has run it's course?? Let's see...there's one hand...two hands...three...four...five...may as well stop counting; there's just too many hands up, to count. Funny thing about coming to the conclusion that the 'found footage' thing has long become stale; each time one comes to that eye-rolling, 'tsk, tsk'-rendering relevation...well, this viewer be damned if someone comes along, and manages to stir something new into the mix, breathing life into this beaten dead horse...as evident by the reportedly positive, recent critic & general public reviews for the upcoming "V/H/S 2" (...hopefully, to be similarly reviewed here, real soon). However, as is typical, in the cable and direct-to-video markets, for every few and far between exception to the rule, there will invariably be the ho-hum, yawn-inducing, 'riding the coattail' knockoffs, which gives furthered and exhaustive cause to the sub-genre having far too long out-stayed it's welcome...call it "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave", as was once amusingly coined, in one of those old Saturday Night Live routines. Such is the case with the most recent entry in the sub-genre...an excruciatingly tame, harmless and ultimately 'by-the-numbers' forgettable little 'found footage' ditty from 2012, called "Stripped"...

Movie Review: The Frankenstein Theory (2013)

Something horror films seem to be missing lately is the slow burn. Sometimes we see brutality within the first minute. That's okay, but not when it happens in every horror movie. It's nice to see a calculated build of intensity in a movie, and The Frankenstein Theory does a great job with that. It doesn't hit you in the face with anything. It lets the story and characters breathe in a fairly realistic scenario.

We start with a documentary crew on Jonathan Venkenhein (Kris Lemche), a college professor with an interesting theory. I know what you're thinking. Yes, it's another found footage movie, but give it a chance. I haven't been impressed with many in this genre either, but this fits perfectly in the vein of Troll Hunter. Anyway, Venkenhein theorizes that the letters in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are actual letters that were used as the base for her fictitious novel. In other words, the Frankenstein monster is real, and was created in part by one of Venkenhein's ancestors. His intent is to take a documentary crew to Canada to capture the creature on film.

Movie Review: Documenting The Grey Man (2012)

It's tough to make a ghost story scary these days. It's especially tough when you have a bad script and worse acting. Let me take a few steps back here. I don't want to come out with fists flying at this movie. Combining genres can't be easy to do. Let's take this ghost story and insert it into a found footage movie. That should fix it. Nope. No, not at all. Hmm. These are two genres that I'm not very fond of, and they combine to make a movie I'm not very fond of. I really and truly don't like writing negative reviews. I'd rather enjoy every movie I see, but it doesn't work that way. Let's just take a look at the film.

Movie Review: Skew (2011)

When it comes to independent filmmaking, you really have to get creative. I suppose that's obvious, considering the fact that this is a creative medium, but I mean in how you put the movie together. One popular trick is to make the cameraman a character in the movie. This started with The Blair Witch Project, hit a bigger scale with Cloverfield, and was tweaked a little in Paranormal Activity. It's a nice cover for bad video quality and gives some leeway on sound and camera work. What it doesn't make up for is story. If the story is good, sometimes the rest doesn't matter. Skew takes the concept and still maintains film and sound quality and uses solid storytelling.

It starts out with three friends on their way to a wedding. There are Rich and Eva (a couple), and then there is Simon, who annoys the other two with his endless filming. Simon's girlfriend is supposed to go, but she bails. Things get weird for him when a motel clerk's face shows up blurry through the camera, and he is later killed.

Movie Review: Troll Hunter (2010)

Directed by Andre Ovredal

Starring Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg and Knut Naerum

A group of college students, camera in hand, are investigating a string of suspicious deaths in the bear population in the wilds of Norway. The wildlife department, and local hunters are convinced it is the work of a poacher and the students believe they have found the culprit it a mysterious loner who ventures out nightly into the woods in his tricked out Land Rover. Only after following him into the woods one night, what they discover is that the mysterious loner is not a poacher at all but a former Army Ranger who has been hired by the government to keep the wild Troll population in check.

Buy Troll Hunter on Blu-ray or DVD

Movie Review: Apollo 18 (2011, Blu-ray)

The "found footage" subgenre has been a constant theme overused in horror films since The Blair Witch Project spearheaded movies of this ilk nearly 13 years ago. The often overlooked Italian shocker Cannibal Holocaust (pre-dating The Blair Witch Project by more than 20 years) brought forth the idea of using supposedly real found film footage of cannibal carnage that was discovered in the Amazon jungle. Somehow that idea didn't quite latch onto moviegoers like it did so successfully in the 1990's with “Witch”. It's 2011, and now instead of witches, cannibals, zombies, monsters (Cloverfield), horror fans get to take spine-chilling trip to the moon with Gonzalo Lopez Gallego's Apollo 18.

Buy Apollo 18 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Combo

Movie Review: Troll Hunter (2011)

There have been several "found footage" movies. Some, like Cannibal Holocaust, can be considered controversial, and others, like The Blair Witch Project, will have a love/hate effect on the audience. I can't imagine that anyone who watches Troll Hunter would find themselves anything but entertained. Though it starts with a prologue about this real and not manipulated footage being mailed to a movie company, you know pretty quickly that the filmmakers mean it as nothing more than an interesting way to introduce the footage.

Buy Troll Hunter Blu-ray or DVD or Watch it Instantly