Life of Belle

I've seen many horror films over the years and many found footage horror films. This one, without revealing too much, gave me literal chills at the end and made me scream somewhere in the middle. Low budget or not, this film captured every terrifying feeling of not knowing who exactly you're living with on that particular day. And especially captured the fright of pure innocence not understanding what is happening with the adults in the room. The acting is not Oscar worthy but I don't think that's what the family who made this movie were going for. Something as simple as a little girl wanting to create her own YouTube channel can accidentally hone in on the destruction of the entire family dynamic.

I went into this film with a bit of scepticism. However, I have to say I came out really impressed. I'm not one who reviews a lot of movies, but I thought I'd like to add my thoughts to this one, as it was likely to get washed away with average reviews.

First of all, I have to agree with some previous reviewers and say the acting is not great. Apart from Belle and her mother, the other actors are a bit "clunky", but this is a minor quibble.

Overall, this is a superb piece of drama on a small budget. Don't expect big jump scares. It slowly builds the terror and the viewer is left thinking "What the Hell is going on?" A small clue happens along the way, in a blink and you've missed it way. I will say no more. Suffice it to say, you know it's going to be a paranormal drama. Now, how does it pan out?

The dread builds slowly, though from the start, you know things aren't going to end well. A mix of Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project and Lake Mungo, it works well. A superb horror flick. I loved it and will definitely watch again, having had a feeling I might have missed some clues along the way.

MOVIE #6 OF THE 100 HORROR MOVIE WATCH CHALLENGE

RATING - 4.4🍿

This found footage style horror film follows the life of Belle, a young girl filming her everyday life. As Dad is on a business trip, the mother seems to be losing it and dark intentions from a dark intenty take over. The found footage is an inside look at what happened.

I give this watch 4.4 bags of 🍿 as the film just takes way too long to develop and you're stuck there just watching them live their lives. Every point where I thought something has to start happening it just makes you wait longer and when it finally gets going it just didn't do it for me. I thought at many points in the story they could of built it up very well but just was very underwhelming for me.

I'm T 🎬 and I hope you're day is full of peace and love.

I don't write reviews often, but I was impressed with how disturbing this movie was. It filled me with angst-that lump in the back of your throat feeling. Syrenne Robinson plays the main character, Belle who pulled at my heart strings, with her love for her brother and her entire family. I later looked her up on IMDB to find that this is her first movie (along with most of the cast)..again, impressive. The movie explores mental health issues and the reality of what some kids and families deal with on a daily basis. The found footage is mostly from the perspective of the young girl, Belle and how children try to cope in difficult situations.

After a horrific disappearance, the release of footage from the affected family designed to help find out what happened to the missing daughter shows their typical family life which soon grows darker and more ominous forcing them to figure out what's going on to save themselves.

This was a fairly solid and intriguing found-footage effort. Among the brighter aspects to be had with this one is the great build-up that provides the kind of intriguing setup for how this one plays out. The first half here, spending as much time as it does detailing the family strife and their interactions with each other that does show them to be a fairly normal loving family that does have a dark secret hiding amongst them due to the glances and cryptic conversations that are shown to take place on the fringes of their relationship just barely captured by the camera. Since so much of the focus comes on her and her antics that are usually featured alongside her brother, the fact that the these subtle hints are dropped nicely alongside the footage taken from the security cameras that tries to suggest something else happening to the family, this one does a fairly solid job portraying the build-up of the family. As this one goes along and it starts to spell out the truth about the situation in a series of increasingly more ominous sequences, there's a dramatically more chilling tone and atmosphere that hangs over the film as the kids gradually find the behavior and outbursts to be far more concerning as they notice her increasingly crazed behavior. From ranting and raving in the middle of the night to bizarre crying fits in the oddest places around the house to seemingly harmless children's games that turn into psychologically terrifying experiences that highlight something not right in the whole ordeal, there's quite a chilling finale here that sets everything up quite nicely. This does take a while to get going as there's a rather low-key nature of what's going on takes the more reserved nature of the storyline into the main focus which keeps things at a measured but potentially sluggish tempo for some that might not be thrilled with the lack of action or overt explanations for what's going on.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, children-in-jeopardy, and Violence.