FOUND FOOTAGE FEBRUARY!! Day 1 Exhibit A
Day 1 EXHIBIT A
Greetings AND salutation people. Welcome to another albeit mildly surprising month long series of reviews. BUT slightly more then just that, We’ve branched out into the world of audio reviews too. So get ready for that mess.
Seriously why I felt it was a good idea to do two of these things a day I don’t know, but we made a post online, and by the laws of social media. We must deliver, at least until our sanity snaps.
Speaking of snapped sanity. Our theme for the month was one I sat on and thought about for a while. Lately to save myself from the holidays, going as far back as turkey day. I went on a bender, watching anything from Alien documentaries to ghost hauntings. Which lead me down the rabbit hole of wonder.
How many Found Footage films are out there?
How many of them are actually good?
And how many of them should all be burned and buried in a creepy basement while having it recorded and leave it there for someone to find and watch.
Thus we arrived at the answer.
Found Footage February.
Actually that was the eventual answer. I really thought about doing a podcast dedicated to found footage films, which still honestly could be fun. But I am not so sure I am the man to do so on my own, with friends? Sure. On my own? Well we can see how this insanity goes yeah?
Yeah.
So with that said, and our mission made clear. Lets begin our hunt for quality stories told on film, left for us by the missing involved.
Of course pulling numbers at random lead us to start off with….well you’ll see.
EXHIBIT A
Welcome to the house of fun!
WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF FUN!!!
Keep singing that! It won’t help you, but I want you to just KEEP. SINGING IT!!
Will it make things better? Not really.
SO DANCE WHILE YOU SING IT!!
You will understand. Oh yes. You will.
This video comes to us from the land of sunshine and happiness known as the UK, in a little spot called Yorkshire. Well Yorkshire and Suffolk.
Is this a happy tale? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
For one, if they made happy Found footage films, I don’t think we’d watch them. Though that’d honestly be a really fun sub genre.
Also, with a title like Exhibit A, you can’t hope for a film filled with sunshine and farts. No. Only horrible things await us.
If you needed further convincing this one isn’t going to be a fun ride through the valley, the very first scene kicks that off for us with an official looking text screen:
YORKSHIRE POLICE
Identification Ref. NO: DPR/F1386(copy)
Exhibit: A
Description:
Video tape found in daughter’s camcorder at murder scene.
Time/Date: 11.56am 26th August 2006
Seized/Produced: 12 Birch Close, Leeds LS30 8BD
SO, we have the title of our film, and we get a bit of background into what we’re in store for.
Sure it could be considered spoilery with everything it lays out there, but if that’s how you feel well, welcome to the world of Found Footage.
If a film begins with “A group of 3 friends set out to film a documentary in the woods, they were reported missing and their bodies never recovered. 2 years later a box containing their film was found”, I mean…you can’t expect good things.
Just think of it as sitting down for an old fashioned murder mystery play. One of the actors steps out and informs you all you are about to watch a production of a murder mystery, Keep your eyes and ears open. Watch closely and listen well.
It’s the only amount of fun we’re gonna get people so buckle up and get ready.
The film.
So the tape is plaid exactly as it was recorded, unaltered and sloppy.
We begin with a tour of the King family home, as well as a quick introduction to the family.
Which right off the bat, they do rather well. Honestly. One of the harder bits to do in these films is get you to care about the people involved and have them come off like they actually ‘do’ have or share some kind of chemistry together. Not everyone is a natural born actor, and it painfully shows sometimes.
This thankfully is not the case here. The family feels genuine without coming off as hitting you over the head with trying to show how much of a family they really aren’t.
Good on them for finding a group that actually work well together. In the video we are introduced first to Andy King, the father, who is leading the tour of their ‘castle’ which he refers to as Camelot. Why? Because it’s only a model. No. More than likely it’s because he always calls his daughter a princess, and thus. Her castle. His daughter Judith King is also our primary Camera operator.
Her dad was tasked with buying her a new ‘camera’, and he decided to upgrade her camera to that of a camcorder. So naturally as any family would. The moment you grant your kid access to expensive highly sensitive electrical equipment, they’re going to use the shit out of it and document any and everything from random moments around the house, to recording their own damn socks because everyone feels like Markiplier when you give them a camera.
Back to their home tour, it’s cut very short as Dad finds his wife busy in the kitchen and he decides now is a good time to smother her in attention. Because how else do you get someone to try not to care about the fact you obviously went over budget and bought something expensive instead of simple and cheap.
His wife, Sheila is pretty solidly relatable. She’s not posing for the camera and immediately has questions the moment she is being filmed. It also gives us a tiny toe dip into the pool of the story, as her logical starts shooting out in a stream of responsible mom questions. What is that, why does she have it, why did you buy it, with what money.
For the unfamiliar well….you obviously live a much comfier life than some of us. She’s not upset, but she is mindful. She knows her husband and knows he wants to please everyone, he enjoys spoiling their daughter, and even if they are on a tight budget. He still tries to bring out some fun for all. Having moments where you don’t feel held back by a lack of funds can do wonders.
It’s a fun moment as well, as he’s hugging his wife she hugs him as well, in her own distraction as she reaches for his wallet, claims it. And pulls his credit card out of it. I’m not saying I am familiar with this, but I am saying I laughed and once dated an accountant.
Well what’s a loving family and cool sister, without an annoying teenage brother. Which we are soon introduced to as they come bounding down the stairs like a runaway freight train, Joe King. I want to say I cringed a bit at his introduction. But that’s a good thing. Because the kid nails down being, well. A kid. Whether we’re too cool for school to admit it, or we choose to forget it with alcohol. We too. All of us. Were once that annoying kid that once a camera found its way on us, we’d do anything we thought could be entertaining or silly that to us would look cool. Only to later have it played back and feel that wonderful feeling of self awareness and cringe smack us like a shovel across the face. The kids perfect. The whole family feels like an actual family unit and in just a few short moments, literally less than two minutes. You get that.
Again I have to draw attention to it because seriously, it’s sorely lacking in a lot of these films to find actual good chemistry and not just people thrown together.
They all play off one another extremely well and to a point it’s almost difficult to tell what is scripted and what’s improvisation.
Like the moment the sister is set upon by her brother and a struggle for control over the camera begins, and when she calls out to the mom to hopefully have her tell her brother to stop, she’s instead told not to be selfish and let him have a turn. My own sister can attest to this treatment as can I having grown up with our ‘let me have the cool thing now’ moments.
But not soon after we get back under the control of Judith. Because we need to setup a bit more about her, which really is the surprise of the film I was not expecting.
Judith is continuing the house tour but more so as a personal video journal now, as she introduces us to her room. Appropriately labeled with a ‘Private’ sign, and we even get nice background music for our tour of her lair.
Which remembering back to my own sisters room. Spot on lived in look. I swear when you entered her room there was an ominous…look I’m not saying my sister was a Kandarian demon, but I am saying walking into her room had an other wordly presence to it, and every item was demon cursed.
We learn Judith is an avid photographer and focuses mostly on wild life and landscape photography. Her walls are decorated in an assortment of photos and the inner photographer in me was rather impressed and wishing I’d had that much damn skill and interest when I was that age. Instead I was destroying barbie dolls and recreating napalm attacks with hairspray and matches in the backyard, but anyway.
She introduces us to her room, its collection of seashells, a locked chest by the window and, her oddball neighbor. Mr. Miller. Who they talk about as being a bit odd and obsessed with his statues. Being a horror fan and given well, found footage in general. You’d expect the quick glimpse of the neighbor as a possible warning. Someone to look out for down the road of the trip we’re taking and, I’m not gonna spoil it, so we won’t rule him out.
More importantly. And rather swiftly. We learn something else about Judith. As she scans their backyard and her neighbor, she shifts focus over to another neighbor, who’s laying a towel out to sunbath, Claire. It becomes rather clear, very quickly, albeit appropriately awkwardly as well. That Judith, has a crush on Claire.
It’s something you rarely, if ever see in horror like this, let alone from 2010. But the way it’s filmed, and how it’s handled. It both gives you a glimpse into someones life, in an awkward moment in that life where they aren’t entirely sure who they are yet, and how to process the feelings they have. While also playing out for the viewers as both a moment we recognize what it is and they’re saying, but carries with it slight unease because of how it is filmed, their reaction while doing so and. Well the earlier title card in the movie which states what may become of everyone by the films end. So much like watching a video in a court room pertaining to a harsh case, it really captures that sense of you are watching something that is both innocent, but also rather private.
The moment ALSO gives us our first jump scare. Which actually got me so, fuck you film, but also I applaud you. So far…
We hear in the background as Judith is filming Claire, her dad calling out to her from downstairs, and without warning the camera suddenly flips from a calm room to a loud car trip, where Judith is making faces into the camera, recording herself as their dad drives the family off to a surprise.
A surprise which Judith is not pleased with. Andy is driving his family out to a large two story home by the beach, and ask them all how they’d feel moving into that house. The family is in a state of shock at the prospect of a large beach side home, and Andy informs all of them that he is in line for a new promotion, he’s top center for the job and with the promotion comes a large bonus, and hike in pay so, the family can definitely afford it, and this also explains who he purchased the video camera for his daughter without a second thought as to the cost.
Well the whole family is taken back naturally. But they are also excited at the prospect of living on a beach front home, I mean hell who wouldn’t be right?
Of course however, Judith is the only one not celebrating. She quietly, nearly defeatedly ask why they have to move. Which is laughed off. But as the camera’s recording shifts now to the family at the beach. Judith finding herself alone with her dad tries confronting him as best she can on this and tries asking him why they have to move, what’s wrong with the old house. It’s something similar we went through when our dad announced first that we’d be moving from Long Beach to Stockton California, and then later just after finishing high school being told we’re moving to Washington. It’s hard picking up and moving from what you know, and the people you got close too. If we’d had the internet back then with social media we have now. It would’ve made it a bit easier. But I am the old. We come from the before time. The time when we had to write in sloppy hand writing to our friends, or ask our parents to use their typewriter, and then mail out letters to our friends, and finding good times to call them on the phone.
Seriously you people don’t know how good you have it! Damn kids.
But sadly, for Judith. Her dad is hearing her pleas for them not to move, but when he presses her as for reasons why, well. She can’t exactly tell him.
WE know why she doesn’t want to move. And seeing her struggle to try and tell her father but not wanting to tell him, it’s sad. It’s a losing battle and her father tries to comfort her, taking it simply as just being young and finding it difficult to leave the familiar for something new.
As the recording goes on, this day will become one that is revisited off and on. Though we have one family member less than happy about their dads news. We end up having a family enjoying at the end of their day, a nice outing on the beach. Take it in folks. And crack open a cold one because you’ll be needing it soon enough.
At least I hope.
So skipping ahead a few days we have Judith, once again recording her crush as she waters her garden outside. Talking to her through the camera. Having a conversation about moving that she can’t seem to get herself to have in person. Some people have said its creepy how she acts, and I mean, I get it? But she’s not a stalker, she’s not standing outside the girls bedroom window, or licking the basketball she plays with. She’s just an awkward kid.
Speaking of awkward, we could use some awkwardness about now. And a heavy case of acting without speaking, which I truly enjoy. And adds to the films atmosphere in a really great way.
We skip ahead and the family, minus their dad, is preparing a surprise. They’ve all gathered in the kitchen and quiet down as they hear Dad approaching the house. Judith, much more confident with her camera skills zooms in on her dad as he puts away his coat and case. It’s something really great, as you can just see the side of his face, but based on his look, and his overall attitude. You can tell something’s not really right. He calls out to the family as he hears nothing but a quiet house, and as he approaches the kitchen everyone shouts out surprise! They have a banner out and a tall bottle of champagne, possibly even a plate of family friendly cocaine.
Okay not likely family friendly cocaine but I mean. Right. This is the U.K. Not the United States of Kyo-Cane!
Anywho…
The dad stares back at them with a look of mild confusion and the faintest hint of a smile, until we see his mind click and he figures it out. “Oh this is about the promotion.”
Right then and there, you know what happened. It’s written on his face, hell even in his eyes. I’m not exaggerating the actor really pulls this off incredibly well and the look he has. Not just at the realization what they were celebrating, not just that he didn’t get the promotion. But the look he has. Seeing how proud they are of him, and how he feels he’s just let all of them down. It’s heartbreaking.
His wife notices the faint hesitation on his face and has to ask if it all went alright, and in that moment. You see him begin the lie, and flip a switch. He tells his family of course it went alright. He got the promotion. So once again everyone is happy and hugs are on the menu for the day.
It doesn’t stop there though. Oh no. No no. No, no, no, no, no.
No.
This family is proud of their father, and they want him to know how proud they all are, of the time he’s put in working for the family, his plans for them and their future home. So they got him a gift. A rather expensive gift online that, the mother approved the spending on because well yeah. She’s proud of her husband and they all want to show him they love him and are proud of the guy.
Andy is a man who loves jokes. He loves comedy skits, shows, the whole lot. It plays into his general playfulness he has with everyone in the family, and it’s something the kids pickup on and share in as well. One of my favorite things they setup in the film and show us is the dads collection of comedy props. From a foam Pineapple, to a fez hat, he has items all tagged with which comedian and show they came from. As this is the families celebration of his promotion, they’ve placed a gift for him inside his comedy showcase, a pair of thick rimmed glasses belonging to a comedy show host. Once again you can see on his face, that this gift is something truly meaningful and special to him. It really means a lot to him. But behind that. Beyond it. You can read the real emotion. Sadness.
The guy is again shown by his family the faith they had in him, how proud they were for him, and him again left feeling he’d let them all down. But feeling to ashamed to admit it. Sometimes telling the truth can hurt, especially when you feel so good having people be proud of you. I mean shit, I never thought I’d get accepted into the art school I applied for, I was old and hadn’t done shit with myself, I wrote them a letter and asked please let me in. They accepted me. I told my family during a dinner out and everyone was incredibly proud, hell my dad even hugged me which, yeah. Was a rarity from him for me. We even shared a shot of sake in celebration. So of course when my grades started to drop in some areas and I felt like I was ultimately going to fail. I didn’t want to tell my family. I remembered how proud they were of me, and for me. I really didn’t know how to tell them how I felt, and inside it felt like if I had, then yeah I’d be admitting I’m a failure and they’d be back to being disappointed in me. At least that’s how I felt at the time.
The man wanted to be the hero his family praised and saw him as now. He didn’t want to disappoint them. He loved the gift they gave him and it’s made all the sadder once you know he didn’t get the promotion, because his family takes his speechless reaction to the gift, his not jumping for joy or being in shock. They take all of that as him being overwhelmed with emotion at the gift, being so happy that it just struck him. When in reality he’s just feeling the sting of his lie even more now, and undeserving of their love and praise. All of it caught on film, by his daughter and none of them aware of it.
At least yet.
As for something completely different, and to give us a spot of levity because. Trust me we are going to need it, and another round of drinks. Maybe snacks. Give me the shortbread cookies.
So having a nice light lunch out with the family. Judith is once again perfecting her camera operation skills. Recording her dad doing a magic coin trick, while her mom gets mildly annoyed with the dad because she’s trying to talk to him about finishing the pond he’d started in their backyard, so they can hurry and sell the house. Which of course is now something the dad is not really looking to push that quickly now. Judith grows distracted with adult conversation and as the parents take off she begins filming her crush Claire once more as she has fun throwing a basketball around. Claire is not the best Baller. She’d get thrown down hard if she brought that kind of game to the streets, and no one has time for that weak ass shooting. But Judith doesn’t care. That is until the basketball gets away from Claire and she calls out to Judith. Who immediately turns into Gollum and hides herself along with the camera underneath the families outdoor table.
Judith has as much stealth skill as a kitten spotted in the garage running across the room and hiding itself behind a box as you watch the whole thing play out.
Her brother though, is quick to retrieve the ball and answer Claires distress call. The two begin chatting and, seem to apparently hit it off pretty well, it’s an innocent chat and seems one of the two is using that chance to introduce themselves. Just unfortunately not Judith, who remains hidden until her brother points her out under the table and ask her what she’s doing there. Once Claire and her brothers eyes are on her she can only stutter out “It’s a joke”, and the two look awkwardly at her and the brother makes a joke at his sisters behalf. Claire returns to her yard and the brother takes one last verbal jab at his sister and how she might actually be able to talk next time if she doesn’t hide herself away.
If this were a Bioware game, we’d see in the corner “Judith will remember this” and negative points pop up. But rest assured. Judith WILL remember this.
You want cringe? You got it! As AC/DC would have said, likely. Maybe. Judith is going to work on her confidence game! She will not let her brother make her out to be a joke, and she WILL say something to Claire. So she sets up her video camera in her room and begins a process of….greetings.
Yes. She is doing what some of us, all of us. Had at some point done. She begins a test montage of different greetings, posing for greetings, and entrances. All ranging from Hey!, to Heeey, to the throw your hair back over your shoulder smile and Oh hey.
I remind us all of our youth because I want ALL OF YOU squirming in your seats as you watch this, recalling your own similar acts in your room, trying to see how you look, how cool and not cool you look, and how natural but still cool you think you looked when trying to talk to someone.
Y’ALL BITCHES KNOW YOU DID THIS!
DON’T TRY AND ACT LIKE YOU DIDN’T Awkward ass punks.
ANYWAY….
So Judith finds herself unable to sleep, and finds outside her window the best possibly blackmail payback on her brother. The glow of a cigarette being smoked in the bushes. In the war of siblings, no leverage is off limits when it comes to the possibility of holding the upper hand, and this would certainly prove a worthy ace up the sleeve to pull out should the need arise. And seeing as Joe just so happened to make her look like a joke in front of her crush well. Time to pull out the camcorder and record that glorious cash prize.
Only, when she turns on night vision, it’s not her brother she kinds smoking out in the bushes, it’s her dad. Which catches her off guard, raising the question why would her father be out hiding in the middle of the night smoking?
Well, we are about to get that answer. See, since dad has now fully invested in the lie of not sharing with his family that he didn’t get the promotion. This means he can’t now back out of selling the house. Especially with his wife taking the reigns on that subject and keeping him on a strict schedule about it. She’s not overbearing or controlling in the slightest. There is reason for how she is, believe me. But overall it just comes off as, well. What I’ve grown up with in a household of mostly women, and reminds me of the joke my grandmother told me “Do you want to talk to the man who knows everything? Or the woman that knows what’s really going on.” Sheila has that position about her. She wants things to move smoothly and knows her husband can be distracted so she has to keep things to schedule and make sure everything is being handled.
That’s why she was on him about the pond, they need to have it finished so they can sell the house, no one is likely to want to buy a house with an ugly hole dug out and left like that.
So Andy has to think things out. Just not how his wife would like him to be.
Since they have to sell the house to keep up this act, at least until Andy can explain things. He needs to figure out how to make it work and, make them some extra cash to help pay for the new house, and the move.
Enter the next recorded day, as Judith is hiding with her dad, whom is wearing a very over sized beard, using a wooden spoon as a microphone as he has Judith record himself doing a comedy skit on his wife. Recording her as she arrives home, and is met by two large trucks outside their home. She immediately has questions, but her husband pops out and begins doing his comedy bit. She plays along and smiles, until he informs her of the surprise that awaits her in the backyard.
Apparently she had talked to him and decided that instead of finishing the pond he never finished. She wanted him to fill it in. Go to the hardware store, buy some top soil and grass seed, and cover the pond.
Dad had, other ideas.
Which he wanted filmed, because he thought she’d be incredibly shocked and surprised. Which, she was.
Instead of filling in the pond. Dad decided to hire a work crew, and buy supplies, to begin digging and putting in a pool.
His logic, which makes sense to us in the know watching, but understandable escapes his wife. Is that, by adding a pool to their home, that will add on a 20k value to the house. He thinks it’s a great idea, and they could use the extra cash. Meanwhile. Mom is, less than thrilled.
When you plan to move, and need to ready your home for resale, adding a pool at the last minute, is a large project, and a costly one too. But…
It’s all part of the plan.
The longer it takes the pool to get made, the more time Andy has to find money he doesn’t have, to both build the pool and help afford the move. It also keeps them from having to put a down payment on the home they talked about buying. Which when you are having money issues? Yeah makes sense. Not so much though when you don’t tell your family, and keep your partner who is trying to help things work smoothly in the dark.
Sheila is not happy about it, any of it, but Andy does his best and pleads his case. In the end she says the wisest words many couples could and should take to heart, and unfortunately sometimes we have to be told. “If you’d just talked about it instead of doing it without saying something…”
Yes I’ve heard that a few times, and yes I was a dumbass for not doing so.
Well, this sadly. Is just the start of Andy’s ideas. Well more appropriately, his money making schemes.
One day as their son Joe is messing around with he camera, annoying his sister and pretending to destroy the yard. He spots his mom and dad having an argument in the house. But being a teenager he could care less and goes back to doing dumb kid stuff and royally annoying his sister, only to find a few moments later, their dad is now joining in and joking around with his son. During all of this horseplay, Joe accidentally slips and falls to the ground. They all end up laughing about it. Except for Andy. Andy has just been struck with inspiration.
Sadly.
What begins is the first real taste we get, of just where things are, and even more directly spelt out for us, where they are going. The next series of shots come thanks to cameraman Dad. Who we see is having Judith pretend to be helping her brother with digging up dirt, while her brother pushes the wheel barrow and falls back into the pool.
Andy King’s grand idea now. Is to setup a fake ‘Funniest Home Videos’ moment, In his mind its perfect. They all laughed hysterically when Joe fell on accident, so why not catch that on film again, but better staged.
So it begins. The dad giving the best totally none scripted but absolutely worst scripted “So whats going on today” intro, as his daughter informs him awkwardly that she’s digging the pool, while her brother works the barrow. Which is Joe’s cue to lift the handles, walk backward and fall into the pool. Which they all have a laugh at.
Only the dad feels it wasn’t done right. So they need to do it again.
And again.
And again.
Slowly the kids begin to feel something isn’t right. Judith gets annoyed with her brother but she doesn’t hate him. She feels bad that he keeps telling their dad the falls are hurting him, and then hearing her dad who usually is jovial and sweet, begin yelling at Joe, claiming he’s being lazy, he’s screwing up on purpose. He’s worthless for not even trying or ‘doing it right’. The more times they record, the more scary it becomes, especially once you see neither of the kids want to be doing this, and the dad is just further losing it. Eventually Joe has had enough. He rightfully tells his father to fuck off, and he’s done. He's not going to break his arm or worse trying to do a stupid skit for a television show.
He doesn’t stop there though, oh no. He fills us all in on more things his dad has done that made no sense and has caused Andy and Sheila to argue. Like him investing in a time share to try and make extra money, changes to the moms car to help with money. Apparently Andy thought no one would question these choices and here his son is, throwing it up in his face.
His reaction is a less calm one, and a more worrying one. His father tries taking off after him with a shovel, shouting out after him. Only stopped by Judith he pleads with her dad to stop, asking him what’s going on. Why is he acting this way.
I don’t know if I said this movie is not the feel good film of 2010, but just a reminder. It is not Tangled people.
It’s truly sad, especially taking in the whole scene, I mean. When you have your own kid crying and asking you ‘whats happening to you’, like, knowing everyone around you is starting to see things aren’t right, but in your own mind, you have everything under control. That should tell you something. But denial may not be a river in Egypt. But it sure as hell can run just as long as the Nile river.
Things are only getting worse for Andy. Judith finds herself waking up at odd times during the night because she hears her dad out in their old shed. Sitting at his work bench talking on a cellphone, and slamming things around. Smoking like a chimney and, as she discovers. Going through trashbags worth of scratch tickets, trying to win the lottery.
It’s a part in the film that really strikes me and I enjoy, because of the depth in his character we’re being given. It is turning more and more into a Jekyll and Hyde situation where while he’s out with his family he’s laughing, light hearted and doing his best to divert conversations when they discuss funds or ask how they can afford to move, and at night left on his own, he lets loose his mounting frustrations and visible collapsing under the pressure he’s built up and surrounded himself with from his lie.
At one point a neighbor is told about them moving and they seem surprised, they even jokingly ask if he won the lottery or something and he quickly rushes them off into their living room changing the subject, The agent helping them to buy the beach house calls a meeting with the family because they never made the bid on the house they promised the owners. Shocking Sheila, now there’s a chance they’ll end up losing the new house, while actively trying to sell the current one, and all the dad can do, is just look back toward his kids in the car watching this unfold, and the look he has, it’s like a cry for help, and reaching the point of desperation.
But Andy has, a moment of saving grace. The perfect distraction from things going on. His wife’s birthday.
Which I have to say, I need to say. Is the most awkward, and greatest scene, especially with subtitles.
Andy has made his wife breakfast in bed, and has the kids carrying it up the stairs for her, complete with a piece of cake and a single candle.
As the dad is all about candid camera moments and surprises. He throws open the bedroom door, shouts out surprise! And oh boy is it.
NO mom is not caught with two latin lovers turning the bedroom into a bbq.
But mom is, was. Enjoying her birthday to herself.
If you listen carefully, or better yet have your subtitles on….yes.
Mom was going to town with a battery operated friend.
Her whole family burst through the door before she herself could burst through…well you get it.
At least she got to plow out one candle. HA HAAAA!
Any-way.
The day is full of festivities. We have Joe who isn’t talking to his dad still, a daughter who is worried about her dad, and a mom who is thankful for the meal and the gift of a brand new grill Andy bought her, for a party they will throw that coming weekend with friends and neighbors.
Which, is going to be, well. We’ll get there.
As for now, Andy is enjoying the short respite from his problems. His wife is happy with the surprise grill, the breakfast in bed. You can see it’s an honest needed break for her from everything.
She even gets a call with some great news in fact. Which honestly all of us would enjoy on our birthdays I feel. Sadly most calls on my birthday are still from bills I owe. Who ever heard of giving money away on your own birthday, honestly.
Anyway the call Sheila gets its from the real estate agent, letting them know that he talked to the home owners of the beach house, and they’ve agreed to give them another shot at the house, if they can meet a certain percent down payment.
A down payment of 21k
That’d roughly be 25k in US dollars.
Well that was enough to siphon the joy Andy found for a little while right out of his very soul. Which again thanks to the actor, Bradley Cole. We absolutely and gut wrenchingly get to see. Even as he feigns happiness for his wife.
Seeing the look he got when he realized the agent called her and not him is something of note. But the moment you see his serious side come out and you see the little raft he held onto that kept him afloat just deflate, once he hears his wife tell him they can keep the bid if they put down a down payment of 21k. Again, cheers to the performers. He goes from crushed and defeated to pulling out an ‘everything is fine’ smile and assures his wife, lets do it, tell them I’ll go to the bank and I’ll work it out. We’ll get the money!
Could anything else possibly get worse you might wonder. Could anything add on to this already huge mountain of fuck my life.
Well, sometimes when you find yourself in that hole, you realize the person filling in that hole, is the same one who dug it in the first place.
So the answer is A WHOLE LOT WORSE.
One night, Judith wakes up hearing a lot of worried hushed voices downstairs. The police had brought Andy home. They tell her that he was seen helping a man who’d been assaulted. Judith films, hiding upstairs as she sees her father, blood covering his shirt and chest. Telling Sheila how…he found his understudy at work, beaten and mugged. His wallet taken. Whoever it was that assaulted him nearly took off half his face, that’s why he had so much blood on himself. He found him and tried getting help, so he brought him to the police.
Sheila ask her husband what will happen at their job now with him being so badly injured? And Andy tells her they’ll likely need to find someone to replace him until he’s better, which means. He will have to take over his work duties and help out until he can return.
Yeah.
Yeaaaaaahh.
Sheila comforts her husband reassuring him that she’s happy he’s okay, because that could’ve happened to him. He could’ve been mugged and beaten with his face half ripped off. Instead he did the honorable thing and helped his friend and coworker whom he trained.
SURELY that is the case, and we can move on from that. Surely.
Well, there’s also another minor issue as well. Like the fact Andy can no longer afford to pay the contractors he hired to build the pool. So those guys are now leaving, and Andy is left having to dig the pool out himself. Which would be even more hysterical if not for us all having watched and still watching the mans slow decent and drowning under the weight of his lies. To say this has caused further strain with the family is, putting it mildly. But the question now is, will the pool be ready by Sunday? The day of the bbq? The day of their ‘we’re moving party’?
Oh hell let’s get right to the BBQ.
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome.
To The House of Fun.
If you have gone this far in life without hearing the amazing song by Madness, known as House of Fun. I feel sad for you. You will need to rectify this. Then again don’t worry you’ll have this earworm stuck in your head after this movie.
I also would have said it worked if they used that as the title for the film. Or just used that song as the entire soundtrack. But enough killing time. Lets get to it shall we?
So Sheila has been waiting for this. A big send off bbq, featuring her new grill, old friends and neighbors. A celebration and farewell as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives.
Andy is of course living it up, He’s having the time of his life. Drunk friends have jumped into the……tarped but finished pool. I mean. Andy -did- finish digging up the pool by shovel, and he put down a blue tarp, surrounded it with stepping stones and filled it with water from the hose so….it’s a pool.
BUT WHO CARES! LET’S DANCE!!
That’s right. Turn up the speakers and blast out House of Fun. Andy is dancing with his wife, he also pulls his son out of hanging out with, to Judith’s dismay Claire. And the dad soon attempts to get his daughter to join in the festivities at the party as well.
You can tell if you glance at some of the people there, that there is something of a slight unease. Sheila is making the most of it, sharing her joy and news with friends, but others still seem a bit at odds, but everyone is enjoying the party.
Hell, even Andy’s coworker with the half torn off face made it to the party.
Oh shit, Andy’s coworker with the half torn off face made it to the party.
Naturally the sight of an angered man, with half of their bloody face covered in bandages, with the other side bruised and cut as well, is not exactly one you’d call party prevalent or charming unless expected or, you know. Halloween.
Also when that person with their face half torn off arrives, unannounced and staring at one man and one man only with deadly intent. It tends to be a record scratch moment. Which it is. But Andy seeing this and the source for the party suddenly going quiet, greets him cheerfully “I didn’t think they’d let you out already.” Which seems an odd thing to say, and instead of showing his friend concern, he just tries to greet him. Only to find himself being attacked by him now, in front of the party goers. Andy quickly helps his friend out of the backyard back to the front of the house, where Judith follows and uses the camera to record and listen in. It’s not part of her Netflix Documentary, but more something she used purely as a listening device.
From what she hears, we discover a lot, which you likely already put together yourselves.
His understudy was the one who received the promotion. He also felt bad that the company stepped over Andy and gave him the promotion. But he also tells Andy that he knew it was him that attacked him that night. He saw it in his eyes, and he knew it was him. He knew Andy attacked him so they’d give him the promotion instead.
Andy of course denies all this and tries calming the man down, even as he gets back into the cab that drove him to the house. As the cab drives off he leaves Andy with one last promise. That he’ll see him sitting in a cell for this.
With that awkward moment out of the way now, it’s time to get back to the house of fun baby!!
Yep. Andy is back to the party, everyone is feeling incredibly awkward about what happened, and some people are beginning to question if that man who attacked him did so rightly. But Andy wants things to be back on the page of fun, no sad times. Only happy times!
Giving us, for our entertainment. And despair. Andy is trying to get his wife to dance with him. But she’s not having it. So he tries for his son again, but no. It only gets worse when he tries jumping around and asking the others to dance with him, “Alright! Who’s going to dance with Andy!”, The answer is no one.
But Andy has the answer. If everyone is going to be a party pooper. He’ll dance and keep the party going.
Leading us into truly the saddest meltdown as we watch Andy dancing like a madman to try and wash away what just happened, the fractured castle falling apart around him. While his friends, son and wife watch in just awkward silence, and the only thing we hear aside the song, is Judith crying while filming her dad.
Which unfortunately for her. Andy notices, and it inspires him on how to get the attention off of himself, and back on having fun.
He rushes Judith and tells her to come along, he has an idea.
He’s gathered everyone together for a comedy skit. He put everyone together in a group and is ready to recreate something I can say I only remember seeing on the Benny Hill show a few times. He puts a flower pot on his head, tells the crowd he will send them all off to somewhere and raises his hands. He tells Judith to pause, and when the camera starts up. Everyone is out of picture and he looks like he’s still standing there, having made them all vanish. It makes him laugh, but we can hear his wife in the background who is slowly losing patience ask “Okay, now what.” So he direct them all inside the house. Because now. It’s time for a show. The camera show.
He wants to show them all how the gag looks on the tv. Because the screen is simply too small on the camcorder, they have to watch it on the big screen. But Judith is very reluctant, and for good reason. “Just promise you won’t rewind the film” is all she ask him, begs him.
But it’s become clear he wants to show off the camera and having seen that she was filming all this time. He wants to show off what she’s captured. Which as far as he is concerned would be
1. The families day at the beach
2. Their son falling while they played around
3. Them having lunch
4. Sheila’s birthday
5. The disappearing act.
However, what Judith knows is -also- on there, and no one in this world should see ever, would be
1. Filming, Claire sunbathing, and tanning, and watering her garden, and her mom hanging her laundry.
2. Her filmed attempts at how to say hi to Claire and greet her, and her talking to the camera like she is talking to Claire.
3. Her dad smoking hiding at night, playing scratch tickets
4. Her dad berating their son and chasing him with a shovel after forcing him to dive backwards into the dirt hole seven times.
5. The conversation he just had outside with his coworker accusing him of having attacked him.
So yeah. Judith has a lot of good, fair. Honest reasons for wanting that tape locked up in a vault miles below the house sealed in a tomb with voice recognition security.
Does he listen to her tearful pleas?
Andy tries to calm her down and tells her there’s nothing to worry about or be embarrassed about, he just wants to show everyone the camera and Joe falling in the pool. There’s nothing to worry about.
Well…Welcome to the house of fun.
The next scene we get, is the aftermath. The screen on the camera has food particles on it. Andy is now the one in control of the camera. His shirt is covered in food stains. The kitchen is a mess, and we can clearly make out that yes. Things did not go well.
He looks defeated and distant. Broken and faced finally with the truth he tried hiding. Not only that. But he also made his daughter out to look like a creeper, himself look abusive, and now everyone knows he lied about the promotion, he screwed over his own family and put them 21k in debt.
But that is not how Andy sees things.
Andy now believes. That this camera is the villain. It made his wife distrust him, his son hate him, and his daughter, his princess betray him. Everything that he saw playout on that screen. Which should’ve served as, albeit a severe and extreme wake up call. He instead took as a tape purposefully made, to make him look like a loser and a liar.
It’s sad to say but, this is the point in the film everything was leading up to. His full decent. His secrets are now exposed, his family dragged with him, and no one can hide from it now. Sheila is in full mom mode now. She is taking the kids into town for breakfast, and she’ll be stopping by the bank, and realtors. She is going to salvage what she can of their family, their money, and the house. As we learn from her before she leaves the house, he cost them the beach house, so they lost the deposit, and now there’s a chance they could end up losing this house too. So she’s taking control and fixing the mess he put them in.
What’s worse, is he calls Judith into the kitchen, and ask her to please answer a question for him. There are likely a hundred things you could think might be a thing to ask. Would be a thing to ask or should be a good thing to ask.
But the one thing he ask her is, why do you hate me?
Having your kid, have to watch the people they love, fight, argue, and tare down the blanket of protection and warmth, the image they hold of you as a parent. Having that ripped away and being shown something ugly and truly scary, it’s a lot for a kid to take in. But having that person very clearly breaking down and in such a state they believe you set them up, and you did all this, because you hate them.
Her reaction is the most honest I’ve seen acted out in a film like this. I mean hell had this been a Hollywood film she would’ve SHOULD’VE been up for all the damn awards.
The look she has, and the sting his words give her just. It hits hard. She can’t understand why he feels that. Why he’d think she hates him. Yes she’s upset he showed intimate things she filmed to everyone, and she hates that everyone saw how her dad was acting. But she doesn’t hate him.
She legitimately gave one of the best reasons in a found footage film as to why she was recording him. Everyone always ask why would someone keep recording when things are going on around them. She actually makes the simplest and best excuse. “I didn’t make that to show everyone, I made it to show you, to show you what you’ve become”. She saw the changes in her dad, and she wanted to document it to show him, to try and get him to see he was being harmful to himself and everyone in the family. Thinking if she could show him this, he’d understand what he was doing and stop.
She tells him all of this and tells him repeatedly she loves him, she doesn’t hate him. She even goes as far as to tell him she understands now, why he did what he did. The lying and everything, because he didn’t get the promotion. She gets why he did that, because he loves all of them and he didn’t want to let them down. Again she doesn’t hate him, she loves him and wanted him to get better.
That. He understands, and thanks her for.
But does he really get it, how she meant it? Or does he take it, how he feels she meant it.
Unfortunately he takes it his own way.
She’s his princess, and she forgives him for all that he did, she got it. So surely there is hope for the rest of the family. But only one way can do that.
Through the power of truth.
There are two sides to every story, and Andy feels that tape only showed one side of the story. It revealed his lies that he told all of them. Exposed him as a liar. So now, he will use the same tool that was used against him. To expose the lies of his family.
Starting with his wife.
While the family is out having breakfast in town and mom begins her attempt to salvage what’s left. Andy has begun filming in their bedroom. Revealing the first secret of his wife, that he claims she didn’t know he knew about. Yep. For all the world to see, he pulls out a big thick veiny rubbery battery operated friend with 6 speeds and 10 vibration patterns.
But he also digs through something that made me laugh. Not a drawer of sex toys, no. Just a familiar sight of anyone who’s ever married or lived with their partner. He pulls out of the closet his wife’s collection, or as I took to calling my ex’s collection “The graveyard of handbags”.
Yes. He spilt out over the bed all of her old handbags he went through and checked for any possible hidden treasures, and all he found that he could film. Was stuck in the lining of one purse, A black and white scan of one of their children taken from an ultrasound. Which he digs at her for having one of their son, but not of their daughter, because as he insinuates, Judith wasn’t a planned baby or one his wife wanted. Which I am sure that will. Go over smashingly when he shows her this.
Next up we have Joe’s room. Which again I had to laugh out only because of the typical dad humor, as he refers to their sons room as the room sunlight never touches. Which, yeah I’ve heard that when I was a teenager. It fits.
What does he find there? Well, dad uncovers their son is taking drugs, which he tries to hide in the useless tape deck of his stereo. More disturbingly though, Not so much disturbing on the part of the son. But more so disturbing on the fact Andy decides to show the camera his next big discovery, is his sons phone. Which he jokes at the camera about how his son was always asking for a new one because the old one is rubbish. “Well I can see why you’d want a new phone, seeing as this ones full of all kinds of videos, including this one.”
And we see play out, a video of his son, shirtless on his parents bed, with what looks like Claire’s head in his lap, unaware Joe is filming her as she, well yeah.
And finally, we arrive at Judith’s room.
Which is the only time he makes a plea to his daughter. He knows she forgave him, and he is grateful for that. But she did record him, and they all need to come out with their secrets, so. As he says when he brings the camera over to a locked basket under her window “A lock means, secrets.” So he grabs his screw driver and bust the lock.
NO there are no dead bodies, or dead animals.
Or weirdly sculpted figures of the family and Claire made out of hair.
AND NO Claire is not kept in that basket.
Instead Andy finds the old camera he’d given her to take photos, which makes him for a moment feel bad about what he’s doing, but doesn’t stop him. He uncovers a box with her, secrets. Like a stack of photos, all of Claire. Claire’s thighs, Claire in her bathing suit, Claire smiling, Clair lounging. Her hands, Her face. There is a stack of at least 100 photos. All of her crush. Also in this box, we discover she took from Claires laundry her basketball jersey and shorts.
Now…..
I know earlier I said she isn’t a stalker, or a creeper. She just has a crush that she isn’t sure how to handle or make sense of.
Having a few pictures of someone is perfectly fine for a crush. Having a few hundred well that…that’s pushing it.
Having their gym clothes? Okay that’s a bit harder to explain.
Girls are weird.
ANY WAY…
All the family secrets are now revealed, and on camera. So what now? Well.
One last time say it with me.
Welcome to the house of fun.
Seriously we need something to seem light hearted or fun because this movie is anything but that, so. Your welcome.
As the family sleeps. Andy records himself in the dark with night vision turned on. He turns off the powert to the house and holds a lighter underneath the fire alarm and sets it off. Watching to see what his family does. Which only seems to upset him further, as not once did his wife call out to him for help, but instead she focused on getting their kids to safety.
So when he announces himself, he shares in this sad realization she didn’t call out to him for help. Meaning she clearly doesn’t seem to feel she needs him. Or can rely on him. So, with his family now staring off in the dark, scared and now aware he did this all on purpose. The mom angrily, and blindly makes her way down the stairs to get them all out of the house. But Andy, being the only one who can see with the camera is able to make his way to the house keys, claiming all of them, and locking the doors.
It's time for the family to sit down and watch a little video he’s made for them.
None of them are in the mood for his shit, but they have no choice. Especially when he shouts at all of them to do as he says. Even promising he will give them the keys once they do.
And with that, the family gets to share in the trauma of having their intimate secrets revealed.
When the camera turns back on. This time its Joe holding the camera. Recording a very deeply in shock Judith, as Andy is on his knees in front of her trying to calm his daughter who’s eyes are still focused solely on the television screen that just played out her deepest secrets. Sheila breaks the short silence by screaming out at him “You just outed your daughter!” He tries reassuring Judith that it’s okay now. That now that he knows whats going on inside her, they can all grow and accept this. That it’s okay for her to have those feelings, that its fine she’s gay. They all accept that and it makes her perfectly normal.
But Judith is destroyed, and Andy doesn’t get it. Which even she has to tell her dad. To her it’s not right, none of it. Because she doesn’t even know what she is. She’s tried making sense of these feelings, and just had them exposed to her entire family, and is being flat out told what she is, and to accept it. That’s a journey a lot of people have to make and it’s not an easy one for a lot to accept until much later on in life.
What gets me, is just that. Of all films right? Of all films to tackle that subject and bring it out. That’s a huge thing dude. And not something you’d expect in a film like this. But it somehow just, adds to both the tragedy and realism of the whole thing. It’s handled in such a way that it’s not overplayed, or falsely played either. It comes off as genuine and incredibly heartbreaking as well as fucked up.
There is no turning back for this family now. The dad in his state of mind, did the worst thing humanly possible he could do to a family he could’ve possibly tried to salvage a relationship with. He destroyed all of them in ways he can’t even imagine, let alone see. Because to him. He did nothing but reveal their secrets, which in his mind means. They can all be normal again. He has his secrets revealed to everyone. So now they have too and they should feel liberated by the truth and everyone knowing the truth.
It's just fucked.
And
It
Just
Gets
Worse!
On top of this, Dad decided he also would add his last great secret to the tape. The final nail. He admits on tape, that he assaulted his coworker and friend. That he tore half his face off in an attempt to get the promotion from him.
There isn’t much to be happy about from here on out if you couldn’t had guessed already. But I do have one moment I can share. Another one of those, yes my humor is a rare breed moments.
Sheila tells Joe to put the camera down and go get his sister, “What? The lesbian stalker?!” she tells him to cool his shit, get his sister and get ready to gtfo. He cusses his mom out and grants us his new name for Sheila, “Fucking Madame Dildo”
It’s the little things in life people.
Madame Dildo.
Well with Joe gone. It’s mama’s turn. She’s got words for Andy and his idea that the video tape brought them happiness and understanding. That it means they can all be better together knowing the truth. She has some truth to lay on her husband, as he never understood any of what he did already as it is.
The issue of the ultrasound and Judith.
Having Joe took a lot of out her, and she got pregnant quickly after with Judith, which she wasn’t ready for given what it took out of her the first time. She told Joe she was pregnant again and wanted him to talk to her about it and what they should do. Instead he went and told everyone she was pregnant and it made her feel forced to have another baby. That instead of listening to her, and talking. He forced her by telling everyone they were having another kid. Which would be Judith. Whom she does love and though it took a lot from her, she absolutely never turned away and hated that she had thought of not having another baby at all.
But then there was the third pregnancy. Which she did not tell Andy about, and that was where the ultrasound photo came from. She didn’t tell him about it because she knew the one person she was supposed to trust and turn to for help and to help her out, to help with those decisions. Wouldn’t and couldn’t do so. So she had an abortion, and chose never to tell him.
Does he lose it? No. Just like everything else, he only sees a distorted truth in the matter. He takes it as another lie his wife held onto, making her worse than him and his lies.
No, no one dies. He doesn’t go on a rampage of blood and rage. He does try to stop them from leaving. But ultimately he breaks and they get out. They take off to somewhere safe for the night, leaving Andy on his own in the house.
When the camera turns on, its final time. We see that Andy had spent the night drinking. Lots of empty bottles sit on the table, and he makes a sad plea to the camera. Apologizing in a moment of clarity. He apologizes to his family for hurting them, how he didn’t want any of this to happen. That he’ll make things right for them. He turns the camera to the backyard and we see Judith. Approaching Claire and handing her the stolen gym clothes. The two seem to make amends and things are fine with them. Andy talks to the camera, to his daughter. Telling her how much she’s grown and how he won’t be there to see her grow more. He’s made the decision to take his own life. The only way he feels he can safe them all, to rid them of himself.
Judith calls out to her dad and he tearfully tells her to go away, not to come into the room. But she does. She sees the state of the room, and her father, and he again apologizes to her. She tries to comfort her father, and he hugs her while on his knees. Pleading with her to go upstairs and go to sleep. They all had a long night, and when she goes to sleep, he’ll be gone.
She begins to cry and tells her dad she doesn’t want him gone. That things will be okay, for all of them. They’ll sort things out and it’ll all be fine for them. You can see him struggling as he again squirms and looks pained at the fact she won’t leave him to do what he feels he has to do. She finally goes to the door to leave, but he calls her over back to him and embraces her once more.
This time, to say goodbye.
Its horrifying, and unsettling, which is what its meant to be. It’s almost too real and that just makes what plays out all the worse. As we see Andy begin to slowly, methodically move to tower over his daughter, and bury her face into his chest. Where he hugs her and suffocates her. In that moment, he looks to the camera and he’s gone. Completely checked out. He grabs a small statue from the table and heads up stairs. Where a few moments later we hear one solid smack, and then another.
The camera is left playing on the ground and we hear, then see Andy dragging Joe’s body down the stairs, the side of his head bleeding out, and he places his son’s body beside his dead sister Judith. As he’s mourning over their dead children. We see Sheila stumble into frame, mumbling with a hand to her head. She too is bleeding from her forehead. Andy turns around immediately and begs his wife not to look. But she does, and she screams. Andy grabs her and off camera we hear him beat her to death.
Andy drags her over to his family pile, and kisses them all. Telling them it wasn’t supposed to be like this. This wasn’t supposed to happen, and not to worry, that he’ll be joining them soon. He turns to the camera and bashes it, giving us one final moment. The camera broken but still recording faces Judith, and if you listen, and watch. You hear faint breathing, and even see the camera lens fog up. Just before Andy destroys the camera, before killing himself. Judith was still alive.
So hey! There’s your happy ending. Judith survives, while her entire family was murdered by her broken father, who tried to strangle her.
Sweet dreams everyone!
The End.
Well actually the end is the camcorder tape playing one final scene from the beach showing us once more of a happier time with the family. Just further nailing the point this was not a happy weekend.
But hey, Judith is alive, at least it seems she still is. So. Hold on to that nugget of hope.
So that movie. Oh boy. What a way to kick this off right? With a swift kick to the balls.
But, that’s the nature of the beast here, and that’s why I love this film.
Found Footage films have a tendency to fall into an odd gap. They are very appealing to make for a lot of filmmakers.
They can be made as cheaply, or as expensively as you want. You don’t need much of a script. Just a timeline of events, some dialog to introduce specific moments or key things. The rest you just leave in the hands of your crew.
This is why these films tend to, unfortunately. Be like panning for gold. There are a lot of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad films in this genre. And every so often, you find a flake of gold, and sometimes. Like in this case, you find a gold nugget.
Most of these films seem to rely on the supernatural for their horror element. Blair Witch proved you can scare people without ever showing them the witch, but just implying they are there, and showing weird things. Same with Paranormal Activity. Rarely though, do they stray away and go off into territory like this. When they do, it seems fairly ambitious and you hope they can tell the story well. Sometimes however, they end up telling the story too well, and you end up with the film sticking with you.
Which makes it a good movie!!
Because they SHOULD stick with you. A good film always does.
This film won a fair share of awards too, it earned its praise and notoriety. The cast were perfectly chosen and played out their parts flawlessly. The brother was annoying, the daughter was believable. Mom and Dad were both scarily relatable to actual struggling parents. Not one complaint about any of them.
It’s a tragic at times all to realistic story, told masterfully through found footage, in a way that makes sense and works.
I mean like I even mentioned earlier the whole ‘why are they filming’ problem a lot of these run into. The film handles it believably well. Between the daughter learning the ins and outs of her new camera, making a video diary, to then trying to help her father, the son filming random things and what he feels would be worthy of being funny. The dad taking the instrument he purchased and ultimately revealed his lies(even up to the end) all of them had cause and reason. I really liked even after the family was made to watch the dads ‘truth’ video, that the son Joe was the one to pick up the camera and begin filming. He was angry at his dad for what he’d just done, and how messed up he felt their whole family was. So he wanted to shove the camera in his dads face while he got served a huge slice of ‘you done fuckedup’.
It never hit that mark of, okay put the damn thing down and gtfo. But to be fair and not just hype praise onto the film, it really wasn’t that kind of film thankfully. But you know what I mean.
Sadly the director didn’t end up making many other films. They did a few TV movies, and shorts. But otherwise they really only worked on one other film after this in 2011(the film came out in 2007).
It’s really a shame because they did a stellar job and I would’ve loved seeing more from them. But sometimes less is more, and in this case, it really works well.
Part of the power of these found footage films, comes from their believability. The point of them really, is to sink in that whole idea that this was actually real, and the evidence of it was ‘found’
So having it seem and come off as real, well. That’s every filmmakers goal with this. The choice to step away from the realm of ghost and demons was great. Even crazed woodsmen. Presenting the film as court evidence and putting the audience in the seats of a jury being presented this film, really works and serves the film well. It really does carry a sense of truth to it, which again was part of the underlying message of the whole film. The camera never lies, and we see the truth in all its gritty, sad, and honest reality.
As much as I talked about the film scene by scene, there’s still a lot I left out which really make for good talking points, and I don’t want anyone feeling I over looked them or forgot they happened. It’s just, with a film so full of good stuff, AND the fact found footage films can be so inherently random with what they show and insert. You really gotta pick and choose to help move it along. And there really are so many good scenes to love in this film. From the dad and his face telling us the story as he begins to lie and cover up his breakdown, to the heartbreak of watching Judith record her crush having a water fight with her brother, seeing her run into their home and taking THAT moment to try and say “Oh hey Claire”, only to find she didn’t hear her and instead chased Joe into his room which they promptly shut the door on, seeing Judith slam her door shut and sink to the floor. I mean damn dude, you feel that heart break.
Really as much as I praise Bradley Cole for his role as Andy, Hats off to Brittany Ashworth for her role as Judith. She really knocked it so sooo far out of the park. To no ones surprise she’s found a good deal of work in film and television. It says a lot about someone when you can watch them knowing this is a movie, but you still feel wrong watching it because they make the whole thing feel and look so innocent and like something only they were ever meant to see. If she hadn’t delivered on the level she had, you absolutely could’ve cared less and it would’ve turned into more of a joke. But she really, really sold it.
Everyone honestly did and I cannot recommend this movie any higher than I already praised it. I liked it enough I had to buy it.
It’s a perfectly done story with a very real, very gut wrenching, heartbreaking slow burn and ultimate decent into real horror. If all the other films on this months list are as effective, this is going to be a fun ride, but I did watch a month of shark movies, and I learned not all that glitters is gold.
But man what a way to kickstart things. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I shall see you tomorrow with the next one. Until then.
ALWAYS be honest with your family, and don’t build shrines to your crushes, its never a good idea.