Rorschach

At first, I was skeptical. I expected lame affects, cheap scares, and a run-of the mill story. I expected it to be poorly acted and boring... well...

Really, I'm giving props to this movie because it wants to be more realistic than to scare you, and that there's no real bullshit. I definitely wouldn't recommend this film for everyone, simply because it doesn't start to be scary until the last bit (of which I won't spoil). I don't watch many horror movies because of the jump scares and other such cheap manipulations - and I think that the found footage horror is all very dried out - this movie, for what it was (a no-budg youtube horror) wasn't stupid. They conveyed realism and the characters are likable, even. Believable. It felt like I was watching a doc made by two grad students with minimal filmmaking skills.

I feel like the two male leads are believable as skeptics and the mother believable as the victim of a haunting.

It's not a great movie - really, it's nothing too new - I, a terrible horror-movie watcher - was bored and comfortable throughout much of the film, but I'm personally, honestly okay with that. The payoff was good, and there's an actual emotional arc that the viewer has with the characters. For all the stupid things that happens in the big budges, I couldn't really come up with anything for this film. It's a solid watch in-between tasks. I don't think I'll be watching it again on my own anytime soon, but I commend it for what it on its own accomplished, and in today's world, that is so important for the independent filmmakers.

Giving it a 7 is more of a personal preference, because it's obviously not necessarily a film to be floored by, but in my opinion, does what it sets out to do well.

Found footage with a twist and what's the twist? That it's actually quite good.

Ever since The Blair Witch Project (1999) we've been awash with found footage movies. Primarily because they are cheap to make and this one as well was made on a budget of less than 10k.

Sadly they are almost always terrible, the low budget generally means that nothing happens and for the most part this is no different.

What Rorschach does differently is the tension, the creators knew what they were doing. They have created a well constucted genuinely creepy movie despite the lack of budget or the fact it's devoid of originality.

If you don't like the genre you won't like this, but if you have any faith left in found footage this little gem is worth your time and I'd happily watch a sequel.

The Good:

Very well made

Believable

Tension is built perfectly

The Bad:

No originality at all

Still just a cliched found footage film

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

This sub genre still has life in it

Nothing to complain about here! This is probably the most effective and scary no-budget found footage horror film I've ever seen.

The setting is fairly typical, but it manages to feel fresh and unique. It sets itself apart with clever story-telling, understated execution of scares, and shows immense restraint. The way the story unfolds feels very grounded and more inline with classic ghost stories (with a modern spin).

Fans of no-budget FF films will love this one! An instant indie horror classic.

I really liked it! The acting was really good. It was better than some movies with 3 times its budget. Spooky and creepy. Not super original but well done especially for a youtube independent film.

All you need to know before watching Rorschach is it's about a mother who's hired a pair of paranormal investigators to either debunk or confirm her house being haunted. She and her young daughter have been experiencing strange events since the grandmother passed away.

This is a found footage film and a low budget one at that but the creativity and simplicity makes for a perfect mix of creepy, believable, effective horror.

Every detail is well thought out and executed that it's easy to get caught up in this D.I.Y haunted house story.

Hopefully other independent filmmakers will be inspired to break new ground with this genre instead of using the copy and paste formula which gives it a bad name.