I enjoyed all of the previous titles in this series. In the beginning, it really felt like it could have been a documentary, but as it kept going, the immersive reality of the series has been on the downslope. This is the point in the series at which there is no longer any question that this is scripted and not a real documentary. The natural feel of previous versions is lost, and you're left with the feeling that you're watching a very mediocre and completely scripted horror film. Shots that are supposed to be in an environment look like they're clearly shot on green screen, the police officer enlisting the help of Clay moves from unlikely in the previous titles to completely unbelieveable. The antagonist becomes unbelievable, obviously trying to get caught, stopping a hair's width short of leaving a map of his location with a full confession saying "I did all of the bad stuff, find me where X marks the spot on this map". Clearly he intends to make another movie in this franchaise, and while I really hope that the next installment fixes some of the mistakes made in this one, as things stand, I feel like he's gone from pushing his luck with milking this for sequels to clearly crossing the line. This title lacks the scares of previous installments, but foremost breaks the illusion that he established in previous films that make this believeable as a documentary. He's clearly running out of good ideas for the franchaise, and poorly done green screens in what's supposed to be real life, clunky acting with even clunkier dialog leaves this as the movie that even for fans of the series that he should have stopped before making. I'm undecided on whether he should try and get it back on the rails with the next movie, or whether he should just cut his losses at this point.
