kraftwerk423

I saw this last night...and it was absolutely one of the best filmic surprises of the year for me! 🙂 Not only is it probably one of the most casually-grim character study films you'll ever watch (in a way that even supersedes movies like "Joker" and "Pearl" because it's based on a true story, and it's all deeply, indelibly grounded in reality), but it's also an amazingly-confident experiment in sprawling non-linear storytelling, attempting a timeline that not even Stephen Gaghan would dare, lol. In a lot of ways, it's like what would happen if Harmony Korine made a modern-day American spin on "La Dolce Vita"...and I'm so, so psyched that Matthew Gentile was able to achieve ALL of this for his very first full-length film with nothing but hard work and lots of persistence! 🙂 Deeply, deeply-inspirational stuff...

I thought this movie was really, really good...it definitely pushes not only the "computer-screen genre" in a lot of cool new directions, but also the possession-horror genre! For one, I haven't seen too many horror films that dare to suggest that possession isn't a "perfectly-nice human being becomes a totally-unlike-him-or-her devil, and then snaps out of it by the end of the film" kinda thing...but that it's actually just people forced to give into their savage, willfully-ignorant, submissive natures a *lot* more than they would if they weren't possessed. The film also plays with tone and suspense very well; at some point, it diverts from a millenial-Michael-Haneke vibe to a gothic-anarchy sort of vibe, with some jazzy tonal diversions here and there (which could very well be likened to blaxploitation, flicks considering one of the main characters is black)...but, it never goes too far off the rails of what the film actually is in the end, which is a bleak, socially-damning tragedy with lots of horror in the mix. The film is also very skillfully made, specifically in the way it cuts between the myriad of computer screens, in a way that is both dramatically-satisfying and unexpected in forcing you to decide what you want to look at sometimes, and then forcing you to look at something you didn't expect to looking at other times (but never all-out indulging in the gore or the potential-campiness as some lesser films would have done). The VFX are also pretty classy and well-done, especially all the lights going out everywhere in the final act, and the acting from all involved was pretty great, too! 🙂 Highly-recommended!

This is a FANTASTIC new suspense film (a drama of spiritual decay, a visual/aural/tonal pastiche, one could say) that I really, truly think many of you will love...I'd say probably the most efficient way to sum up this movie and its emotional impact is to describe it as "The Big Chill" meets "The Shining", that is completely unafraid to take its time to get where it's eerily going (but not TOO much time, with a highly-tidy 90-minute run), with a fine improv-mumblecore glaze of "Paranormal Activity" as well...but the incredible feminine-driven substance, its brilliantly-evocative/symbolic cinematography and artfully-potent editing (easily the best I've ever seen in a "found footage movie"), and its deft and incredibly-memorable uses of great emotional acting and sudden/subtle tone shifts is what *really* gives this film its heart that will stay with you beneath all the ambiguous Kubrickian/Lynchian suspense. It also passes the famed Bechdel Test with flying colors for once! So let's all help this soon-to-be cult favorite for far more than just suspense/horror buffs earn its place! You'll be very happy you did! :)