Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth

As someone who watched Incident at Lake County on TV when it first came out, and Blair Witch Project in the theater on day one, I can respect and admire a film like Blue Hour. The film follows the directorial and "bad acting" traditions of Incident at Lake County, Blair Witch and even Lake Mungo. The cut scenes with reporters doing a very poor job and horrible acting with police and detectives is right out of all the best classics, and I think is deliberate. You can see the design in how the main characters perform, then in come the bad reporters and worse police.

The cinematography also pays homage to the classics. For those who rated this film badly, you need to watch the classics before you lay down the law with your bad reviews. That rule goes for any film of this genre and style. I enjoyed it and hope to see more in this style from the director.

This is a movie where I found myself staring at the screen in awe as events began to unfold. The first third establishes a disappearance and some general digging by our documentary crew, but the last two thirds are unlike anything I've ever seen, deliered in a way I never expected. This is shot with a high production quality like Horror in the High Desert or The Unbinding.

The documentary itself is compelling enough to feel real and when it takes off, the shock is such a superb experience. Once that wore off, I was left with an intriguing mystery that l'll have to have a second watch to truly understand.

This seems like a very lazy premise for a film. And a way to sneak the film past viewers. I'd like to have seen this as fiction. But to open your heart and mind to a situation, only to learn it's a lie? That feels like a cheat. The premise is not even sufficiently novel to sustain its fictional underpinnings. It's a David Paullides gone missing story, draped with mystical sorcerer underpinnings. Happily, I picked up on the mock tone quickly, and granted I rented it while in pain, but I wanted a documentary. What I watched didn't sustain my interest as fiction, and I felt cheated out of the documentary I sought.

"This was an amazing ride from start to finish. With an excellent story, awesome direction, and a truly insane ending that I absolutely did not see coming, I have to say this is the best mockumentary I've ever seen. The fact that this comes from an independent filmmaker honestly makes it even more satisfying to support. You are absolutely in for a treat with this one - its twists and turns are so much more fun and shocking to experience with others. Gather your friends, watch it, and prepare for a mind-bending discussion that will likely stretch long after the credits roll!"...................

I love that it was a different kind of horror film. It invites the viewer to be a part of the story.

'Blue Hour' is an intriguing mystery that feels believable and spooky.

It was not about buckets of blood or gross effects that many do for shock value. Instead, it has talented main characters and a supportive cast that is engaging and entertaining. The cinematography looks great, with camera angles that embed you in the environment and help convey the overall bleakness of hope they may have of finding what happened to Nick Brandreth. It is very well-directed and smartly paced. I hope to see more like this.