Blair Witch review

Director: Adam Wingard
Running time: 89 minutes
Certificate: 15

The 1999 Blair Witch Project was something of a revelation, not only did it father the found footage genre but it was a very effective horror film that had plenty of scares. Underpinning it were characters we cared about, which made the film both believable and full of tension as the trauma unfolded. Which is one of many reasons Blair Witch disappoints on so many levels, and ends up being a letdown.

Ignoring the first sequel to the series Book of Shadows, Blair Witch begins twenty years after the original film, when James Donahue (James Allen McCune) comes across an uploaded clip of his missing sister's recording of when she investigated the Blair Witch legend in Burkittsville Forest. With a few friends Lisa Arlington (Callie Hernandez), Peter Jones (Brandon Scott) and Ashley Bennett (Corbin Reid) he meets up with the person who uploaded the clip onto YouTube, so they can be taken to the place where her camera was found.

The film slowly builds up to everyone setting up camp before things get really loud and predictable. Until the last ten minutes almost all of the apparent scares are manufactured and cliched. You have your usual jump scares such as characters suddenly appearing in frame to scare whoever's point of view we are seeing, and strange noises appearing off-screen just so one of the character's can go investigate in the dark by themselves.

None of it is remotely effective because everything is so bloody loud, unlike the original, the sound never feels natural to the surroundings, making it obvious that a sound effect button has been cranked up to eleven and put into the film in post production. So nothing feels real, not once can you imagine anything onscreen actually happening, of which the original for all its faults, managed to do. Maybe the found footage horror genre has just run out of new ways to work?

While the characters have clear motivation and agency, they are all rather forgettable, you'll forget their names within an hour of the film ending. And like many horror films they do the most stupidest things that get themselves killed.

To its credit the film does get better in the last ten minutes, where for the first time something terrifying actually happens, bringing about a real sense of urgency and claustrophobia. It is also the only time that the shaky cam works.

But this is taken away by a very anti-climatic ending.

Verdict- Unless you absolutely loved the original and have some free time to spare I would not recommend seeing Blair Witch. It's not so bad that it's unwatchable it's just wasted potential that offers nothing new, I'd wait for a rental.

D
2.5/5 (bordering on 2, couldn't decide)        

Don't Breathe review

Director: Fede Alvarez
Certificate: 15
Running time: 88 minutes


Without doubt one of the best horror/thrillers I have ever watched

I hardly ever get scared from movies, there are some that I might find disturbingly violent and gory, but rarely do I feel the peril of the characters onscreen. Which is Don't Breathe's greatest triumph, at every beat I was thoroughly involved in the eventual cat and mouse nature of the film's premise, and never once did I predict its twist and turns.

Set in Detroit, the plot is about a group of three burglars who break into the home of a blind war veteran (Stephen Lang), hoping to get the compensation money he received when his daughter was killed in a car accident. Rocky (Jane Levy) is from a broken home and plans to move to California with her sister, Alex (Dylan Minnette) is the sympathetic one with a conscious, and Money (Daniel Zovatto) is the brash and arrogant one.

As you'd expect, things don't quite go to plan and they eventually have to fight for their own survival. In most house invasion movies, the house is nothing more than just a setting, in Don't Breathe it feels like a villain (in this case) within itself, a place that is inescapable. It's helped by the way the film is shot, most horror/thrillers are often made so that the locations are nothing more than wallpaper, always reminding the audience that they are looking in from the outside, a voyeur of sorts. But Don't Breathe is closed in and personal, which creates a real feeling of dread and tension that never once lets you off the hook.    

The villain is unique as well, while still coming across as excruciatingly antagonistic he actually has a vulnerability, he isn't just some supernatural force of power with little motivation other than to kill for the sake of it. So the stakes are always high.

The violence is raw but not gratuitous, there are a few brutal moments where you might have to look away for a second or two, but nothing that is particularly upsetting.

It's not all good though, the last third is a bit exhausting and derivative, nothing that will take you out of the film, but the gradual pace of the film suddenly goes up one too many gears. And the ending is a little anti climatic, while it doesn't ruin the experience, the payoff just feels short changed.

Verdict: With superb performances all round, Don't Breathe is one of the best films I've seen this year, and one of the best edge of your seat thrillers I have ever seen. I would highly recommend this film, unmissable. 

A, 8/10      

   

Why 'Lost in Translation' speaks to me

Lost in Translation was released in 2003, starring Bill Murray and a then unknown Scarlett Johansson. It was a sleeper hit that earned $120 million on a $4 million budget, and won countless awards. I happened to come across it by accident, and I can't remember the first time I watched my mum's DVD copy ( at the time I was not quite the film buff I am now), but I've loved it ever since and there's something about it that has touched my heart ever since, no matter how many times I watch it.

Focused on two strangers in a foreign country (Japan, Tokyo) who are at a crossroads in their lives, they meet each other in the hotel they're staying in and a fleeting friendship begins for the time they are there. Others might disagree but I think their relationship is that of a friendship rather than anything physically intimidate.

On the surface level, a cynic might think that the film is shallow and meaningless, and about two self absorbed people who happen to be in a place with cultural differences that they are not used to. But, at heart 'Lost In Translation' is a story about finding someone missing from your life, someone you can create moments with, someone who is there when no one else is.

I've never had someone that's come into my life in that way, no one who I could seriously say I've bonded with in an instant, and then disappeared from their life not long afterwards. Which is a shame, it's something I long for, because a fleeting friendship with moments is better than a long term one of convenience.

What's particularly fascinating is that neither of the lead characters actually introduce themselves to one another, although Charlotte (Johansson) is aware of Bob's (Murray) fame (Bob was a film star during the 1970s).

While watching 'Lost in Translation' one can't help but feel a sense of loneliness, the enchanting soundtrack helps, and so does the depiction of Tokyo. Like most big cities it's shown as a place where you can be surrounded by countless people but still feel lonesome.

From my own narrow experiences, being alone in a foreign place can be just as daunting as it is thrilling. So I can imagine finding someone you can connect with can make the world of difference, and the experience that much better.

(spoiler alert)


The ending is somewhat heartbreaking, because although the film isn't long we feel like we've been with the characters for far longer. We might not know these people intricately but we've enjoyed their emotional journey together. So in that last moment that they are together, clenching one another before parting ways and Bob leaving the city, makes the whole thing worth it. As much as I might like to see them together once again, their moments during the film are enough for a lifetime.

The film ends with Bob exiting Tokyo with the song 'Just like Honey' (Jesus and Mary chain) playing over the background. It's one of the few times that we get a great scope of the city in daylight, opposite to Bob's introduction to the city on entering at the beginning of the film. All great experiences are a means to an end, but worth living for.

If you haven't seen Lost in Translation, please do so.