Embedded

I went into this movie with no prior knowledge of it, the story or actors. I was pleasantly surprised at how great the story was and even the camera work. I'm a big found footage horror fan and this one did not disappoint. The creature effects were actually quite good, not really any CGI, just good old fashioned actors in costume. If you're a fan of found footage definitely check this one out.

The worst film I think I've ever seen horribly made. They keep cutting scenes trying to make it look like it's camera issues but it's just terrible acting. It's supposed to be scary but I was actually laughing because how terrible it was.

There are very specific types of movies I like watching while I'm on the treadmill, doing laundry, or dishes. Ones that aren't maddening in their awfulness, and not so great that it requires my full attention. Something just sort of ok. This is that kind of movie.

There was only one 'actor' to speak of, the deputy guy. If he had a better script, I could see him doing really well. The rest were bad enough to be called super amateur, but not bad enough that it was really distracting. I mean, if the story and script were better, the acting levels would have been distracting, so take that for what it's worth. The again, if the script were better, maybe the acting would have been, too. Probably not.

The jump scares are harmless fun, just how I like them.

The flying dog was entertaining, the taxidermied bear that was supposed to be freshly killed was pretty pathetic. It's not a good movie. But for some reason, it didn't piss me off.

If you need background noise and to forget you're doing some mundane but still be able to do the mundane thing, I guess this movie will do.

This movie sucks. A silly plot, combined with a bunch of gun loving hillbillies and a jumpy camera was enough for me. It eventually got to a point that I didn't care what they were dealing with.

EMBEDDED tells the story of a war journalist duo, one in front and one behind the camera, who, on a seemingly banal assignment to cover the mysterious disappearance of cattle in Montana become embedded in a search party for a 12-year old who has gone missing. In the course of the search, they find more than what they bargained for.

The set-up of this found-footage film plays like a genuine mystery, and even provides a red herring in a humorous manner. The answer to the mystery is provided about midway through the movie, and from there it becomes a genuine horror film. I recently saw another good found-footage horror film, GODFORSAKEN(2020), which had a similar structure: a quiet mystery half followed by a more intense horror half.

EMBEDDED does a lot of things right where other found-footage horror movies falter: the production values are good; the shaky cam is not too annoying; there are some unexpected scenes which in afterthought make sense, and the camera actually shows the danger, as opposed to just hinting at it.

On the minus side, the newscaster character was a bit stiff, but I am not sure whether this was an intended part of his role or not. The movie did characterizations of at least some members of the search party, but I think it could have still done a little more. Finally, I would have expected that if such a large party (thirteen people) gets into trouble, the state or perhaps even federal government would seriously get involved.

Be that as it may, I think EMBEDDED is probably the best found footage horror movie for the particular kind of danger that the characters face (I am not naming the danger because I do not want to spoil the mystery).