found footage tagged posts

August 24, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: Graham Hughes

Writer: Graham Hughes

Cast: Graham Hughes, Annabel Logan, Paddy Kondracki, Joma West

Producer: Graham Hughes

Music: Cullah

Cinematography: Kevin Walls

Editor: Graham Hughes

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 88mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: A documentary entitled Death of a Vlogger investigates the strange story surrounding a YouTube filmmaker, whose flat is seemingly haunted by a poltergeist.  

What’s the verdict: Ironic for a film about the paranormal, Graham Hughes’ third directorial outing breathes fresh life into the mockumentary format. Wrapped in this initially standard looking horror mock-doc is an effective chiller and a blackly comic spin on social media stardom.

Graham (Hughes) is a likeabl...

August 19, 2019, Posted in  Features Comments: One comment

One of the brightest gems playing the 2019 Arrow Video FrightFest is Graham Hughes’ Death of a Vlogger.

Cannily spinning fresh ideas into the mockumentary and found footage genres, it tells the story of Graham (Hughes himself), a prolific vlogger who accidentally captures on camera an apparently supernatural event. When this and subsequent spooky occurrences go viral, Graham and his pal Erin (Annabel Logan) hire in brash YouTube ghost chaser Steve (Paddy Kondracki) to help them solve the mystery.

As events unfold, reality begins to wobble and characters question if they can really trust anything on the internet.

A smart skewering of online toxicity and a genuinely unnerving ghost story, Death of a Vlogger should be on the watchlist of anyone who likes their horror served w...

October 30, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Writer: Yeon Sang-ho

Cast: Gong Yoo, Kim Soo-an, Ma Dong-seok, Jeong Yu-mi, Choi Woo-sik, Ahn So-hee, Kim Eui-sung

Cert: 15

Running time: 118mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: Seok-woo and his estranged daughter Soo-an take the KTX fast train from Seoul to Busan and soon discover they must fight for their lives during a zombie outbreak.

What’s the verdict: It is not as scary as the British rail service when a single flake of snow falls from the sky. But, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan joins such locomotive nailbiters as Runaway Train, The Taking of Pelham 123 and Horror Express as a first class example of how to keep excitement and tension on the right track.

A zombie film by way of a disaster movie, main characters are efficiently set up while the undead apo...

September 14, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Adam Wingard

Writer: Simon Barrett

Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson, Valorie Curry

Cert: 15

Running time: 89mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: A group of friends head into Maryland’s Black Hills Forest to investigate the mystery surrounding the disappearance of three young filmmakers two decades earlier. Many believe their vanishing was connected to the legend of the Blair Witch. As they venture deeper into the woods, the group soon discovers they’re not alone…

What’s the verdict: If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a cosy surprise. Yep, Blair Witch goes The Force Awakens route, aping the original while providing fresh tweaks, and is proof positive dank chills can still provide a warm glow of nostalgia...

August 30, 2016, Posted in  Features Comments: One comment

FrightFest 2016 has been and gone, marking an impressive 17^th consecutive year for the UK’s premiere horror film santa sangre.

With new headline sponsor The Horror Channel replacing Film4 and a move away from the heart of Leicester Square to London’s Shepherd’s Bush VUE cinema, could FrightFest retain its dark mojo?

Predictably the answer was yes. FrightFest’s four horseman of the apocalypse, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy, Ian Rattray and Greg Day, plus the ever-growing FrightFest team, staged a five day extravaganza showcasing the best of fantasy cinema from around the globe. And the newest voices, three films in the Electric Shadows Top 10 are from debuting directors.

My Father Die was a solid opener, an accomplished calling card debut from Sean (son of Pierce) Brosnan, and although I c...

September 5, 2015, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Celia Keenan-Bolger

Cert: 15

Running time: 94mins

Year: 2015

The lowdown: M. Night Shyamalan threatens to make a return to form with The Visit, but manages yet again to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. His tale of a brother and sister visiting their grandparents and realising all is not well joins The Prestige as an enthralling experience ruined by a denouement that betrays the early good work. Horrifyingly disappointing.

The full verdict: After early Oscar-nominated promise, by the time M. Night Shyamalan came to helm Will Smith stinker After Earth his name was so toxic he was barely mentioned in any promo material.

Now, with mojo partiall...

June 8, 2014, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Ti West

Writer: Ti West

Cast: AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Kentucker Audley, Amy Seimetz, Gene Jones

Cert: 15

Running time: 99mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: House of the Devil and The Innkeepers director Ti West unofficially recreates the Jonestown Massacre in this mockumentary chiller. Three Vice magazine journalists venture into a Christian commune founded in a foreign jungle on the invitation of the photographer’s sister. Initially living up to its name of Eden Parish, frightening signals of what is occurring behind closed doors soon become apparent. Effective, but too familiar a cult story to be anything more than a minor addition to West’s filmography.

The full verdict: The Sacrament follows the major events of Jonestown so closely, it seems to be budgetary reasons why the ...

August 21, 2013, Posted in  Reviews

Directors: Jason Eisener, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto

Cast: Adam Wingard, Jay Sanders, Fachry Albar, Hannah Al Rashid, Zack Ford

Cert: 18

Running time: 96mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: Follow-up to the hit anthology original that retains the same structure but loses some of the surprise and scares that made V/H/S a winner.  The Raid director Gareth Evans delivers the best episode, with other instalments coming from Jason (Hobo with a Shotgun) Eisener and Eduardo (The Blair Witch Project) Sanchez, plus You’re Next’s Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, who previously contributed to V/H/S.

The full verdict: It is fitting Eduardo Sanchez contributes to V/H/S2 (aka S-VHS) as he practically invented the found footage genre as co-director of The Blai...

August 20, 2013, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Renny Harlin

Cast: Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Gemma Atkinson, Richard Reid, Luke Albright

Cert: 15

Running time: 100mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: The Blair Witch Project gets a middle budget makeover in Renny Harlin’s fun horror adventure.  A group of college kids investigate a real-life mystery from 1959 about the violent, unexplained death of skiers in the Ural mountains. Mixing ghost story unease with bizarre plot twists, this is surely the most bonkers explanation of what may have occurred and knows not to take itself seriously.  A largely British cast works well with the elements and American accents, while Die Hard 2 director Harlin again proves he should be trusted with bigger budgets.

The full verdict: Nothing strikes fear in the heart more than the phrase “found foo...