Therapy

Loved it. For a low budget film it was very well done. Loved the ending! That twist.

Absolutely terrible acting. Plot is terrible. Scares are terrible. Nothing really redeemable here. Choose another movie to watch.

The criticisms that other reviewers of this film made are definitely fair- it does have a ton of jumps cares, little logic for a large amount of the storyline, and confusing reactions from experienced law enforcement with little development or elaboration on their personal struggles that were introduced. Also, the found footage clips (which are most of the film but not all) don't quite make sense, as it sometimes changes perspective in ways that should not be possible. The police being in a rush to recover damaged footage wouldn't explain this the way it's intended to and it seems like the concept of found footage isn't committed to by the filmmakers. Regardless of this I enjoyed the atmosphere. Criticisms aside, the director and writer is a film student and he created this at only 17 years old, and I've personally not seen a full length film from someone his age that is even half as put together. In my opinion his work is very promising for his age and experience level, and I'd like to see more from him in the future if he takes on some of the criticism that has been presented. If you're interested in seeing a somewhat flawed but decent work from a young director give it a shot.

The character's actions make absolutely no sense. There is no way a police officer would act the way they do and no way the police would believe the crazy lady at the end, considering all of the footage was on the police woman's laptop locked in her hotel room. Sucks because this could've been good if they had a better cast, better director and had done a few rewrites of the script. For instance, you want me to believe that two of the women were THAT brainwashed and crazy in just two days after being held captive? Just stupid. Also, what was the deal with the supernatural element going on here? One moment there's no one in the chair, and the next moment when the camera turns around suddenly there is a lady sitting there right next to him and he didn't even see her? And she just starts screaming for absolutely no other reason than to have a loud jumpscare? Again, inexplicably stupid and derivative. It should've been explored more as to why these women were helping the killer instead of, ya know, trying to kill him back. It made it out like women in general were just fragile and useless. Super misogynistic, which would be ok for a horror movie if it wasn't so stupidly underexplained. I would award this no stars if I could. There's not even any good splatter moments like you would expect from a film like this. Just frustratingly bad. Don't waste your time, there are better things to watch on Shudder than this craptastic film. I'm sad I wasted mine.

I respect found footage films when they attempt to cleverly use the medium - especially if in service of budget restraints - but I also expect any film, genre or otherwise, to take some care in the development of their film. If you're happy accepting "it doesn't matter, it's just supposed to be creepy" as a valid excuse for inconsistent (or total lack of) logic, or character development or realism than this film will probably sit just fine with you. I, however, appreciate when writers are concerned with logic and character, and when directors are concerned with realistic behavior and actions. Police detectives that don't behave as if they've ever been to a crime scene or found a body before; characters that run, and then stop to let the guy in the mask get closer, so they can run again, and stop - again; adults who will ignore investigating distant screams in the daytime so they can do so in the middle of the night - and drag their niece and young friends along with them: people in a pitch black abandoned asylum who can hide from a stalker with the light from their cameras spilling over everything; frightened people searching a vacant building who, when they see they are not alone aren't inclined to mention it to the others; characters who are presented as so "on edge" as to appear that they, too, are crazy - but then that behavior is never explained or justified (even though it actually makes no sense in the situation other than as a possible red- herring that's never explored); heavy objects that can be manipulated in silence right behind folks by the killer but not by the people themselves - if none of this bothers you, give this movie a try. You might even think it has a surprising twist ending as opposed to what I consider a sloppy, predictable and illogical one. To me, all of the previous examples are excessively lazy filmmaking and it makes for a disappointing waste of an otherwise passable premise for a found footage film. Too bad the filmmakers didn't feel the necessity of making their movie any better than what the least discerning fans of this genre would need.