sxtape

So my girlfriend and I decided to give this one a shot because we are fans of found footage horror movies and really liked the Grave Encounters movies. We didn't expect too much from this movie, and that's about what we got. To sum up sxtape quickly, just imagine Grave Encounters...now remove all the parts where stuff actually happens, and you have this movie. Firstly, having only 2 characters for the bulk of the film really limits what can happen, especially when the story and dialog are as horrendous as they are here. The characters are not developed whatsoever and I feel like they act in completely random ways during the events of the movie and I don't get any kind of definition as to their character or personalities. The setting itself is great, but highly underutilized. Once again, we have yet another movie in an abandoned place where the director expects the location to carry the movie and make it "creepy" and "unsettling" by default without adding further elements to conjure those moods. So, we're left with a movie that mainly involves two people walking around in an asylum (that was performing lobotomies in 1982 apparently! to hell with sense. oh and the water and power still works. suuuure) and talking about random stuff (sometimes sex, sometimes "this is weird we should leave...but let's stay for some reason"). I didn't get the feeling that there was anything beyond a very loose story arc for this movie (there is going to be a boring intro, a "creepy" overly drawn out mid section, and a brief & very predictable climax). There was some stuff that happened, but there was no particular purpose behind any of it and none lead to any significant developments. One huge flaw I found with the movie is that any time a scene starts to pick up - you hear something in the distance, ominous music starts to play, some ghostly voices echo in the background, the cameraman starts to run...OK this is about to get good...and then, bizarrely, the camera shuts off and comes back on a second later in a different location where nothing is happening and nothing became of whatever situation was about to go down. This completely kills the mood. I have no idea why this "technique" was used over and over throughout the film but it made it a chore to sit through, since any time you think something is about to happen you are jarringly let down. I think there is also a plot about ghosts or something, but it is never fleshed out, nor does it have much bearing on anything that happens other than to provide a boo scare or two.

Ultimately, this is just a bland attempt to follow in the footsteps of movies like Grave Encounters. Not the worst thing ever, though not particularly worth watching unless you absolutely must see every found footage horror movie out there.

O.K before anyone else thinks about renting/watching this movie a word of advice there are plenty of decent movies to rent better than this pile of hot steaming mess...

o.k lets break this down for what it is one of the WORST found footage movies ever made.

stupid plot, retarded lead female actor and one of the dumbest ending i have ever seen..

for the 1 hour and 24 mins this movie runs for there is plenty of better things to do or see.

whoever wrote the story must have been sniffing paint thinner or some heavy duty solvents because the story is so stupid.

any reviews that say this film is good are utter nonsense this is one of the most boring, dumbest films ever.

would give it a 0 if i could.

Don't WATCH THIS TRUST ME ITS THAT BAD.

A girl is interviewed by the police. He mentions a tape, that her boyfriend is dead and that two others are missing.

And now we get to see the tape. Basically a guy films his girlfriend at all times. She's a painter, free spirit, fun-loving, wild and very cute. We follow them one day as they mess around, go to a coffee shop, into a store, then drive around as he shows her a place that could be used for a fancy art exhibition of her work. The place is an abandoned hospital. She of course rushes in through the fence and goes inside. He's reluctant but joins her. And of course everything seems fascinating to her. Incubators, children's toys, old beds. She gets on one and he restrains her. Then he leaves here there for a good while. A ghost appears and enters into her of sorts. At some point she starts bleeding profusely out of her nose. As they leave, he car is being towed so she calls a friend. A couple arrives. They of course wants to see the place. So even though the girl was freaking out earlier now she goes back in. They start tagging the walls. This new guy is a complete jerk and a bully. He even has a gun with him and gets very touchy with the girl even though his girlfriend is right there. They separate, run into each other again. Our first couple meets up, discovers the archive room and she finds some tape and a file and starts bleeding again. Meanwhile camera guy finds a room with cameras and sees what actually happened to the other couple and why they are missing. But his girl flips out once again. At the end we get some more background story of the place and its patients.

sxtape has one big advantage over all other crappy found footage tapes. It's centers on an attractive girl. If you are going to make a lame POV movie, that's what you want, your camera on a pretty girl occasionally in erotic situations. And this movie for the first half hour is fun and entertaining. But from there it goes downhill when the other couple arrives an we get nothing but abusive and obnoxious behavior. While the background of the hospital and the patients is interesting enough the movie unfortunately settles for psychological terror, which is never particularly scary let along interesting. A decent effort to rehabilitate the dreadful POV horror subgenre that doesn't go far enough.

A young couple embark on a road trip to an abandoned hospital with the man filming everything along the way. The woman is a painter and the idea is to scope out the hospital to hold an art show there at a later time.

When their car is towed, they call a couple of friends to pick them up, but plans change and they all re-enter the building. This is when bad things start happening as supernatural forces begin to manifest.

The characters are so annoying and their decisions either do not make sense or just plain drive you crazy. Too little happens too late and what does happen is not very interesting. If there were more supernatural goings on and the characters were more likable I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more.

I see the reviews are harsh, I won't be the one to break the ice on a quite good one, in order to attract attention or mislead people, but for someone who never was into found footage movies, I got to say this one kept me still, watching, waiting for more.

It starts slow, some nudity, some jokes and builds up to the key point in around 20 minute. From there on, it grows more and more and starts to deliver. Sure, nothing mind blowing, but considering the fact that zombie movies and found footage are spreading like a virus lately, once you do find a good one, it's good to get things straight. In my honest opinion, SxTape is a good example and here are the reasons: 1) acting was good; 2) characters were typical and natural; 3) once the tension makes an appearance it stays there; 4) one or two good scares (let's face it, found footage can't really be scary anymore;) 5) the twisted situation involved.

So all in all, I would recommend this one, if you don't expect too much out of it, it will be OK. Somehow of a "Grave encounters", maybe better, dunno exactly. Anyway, if you do go in for it, enjoy!

Cheers!