Despite not being a fan of the found-footage genre, the great cover art and a relatively interesting premise(plus, although it has been a while, I remember enjoying the director's previous movies, they do need re-watches) were what drew me in. The Jungle is not a bad movie, the locations have a very beautiful yet claustrophobic look, the sound has a genuine spookiness done with subtlety, the acting is reasonable considering the material and there are splashes of suspense and tension. And it is a long way from the worst of the found-footage genre, Hunting the Legend and all of those from The Asylum are far worse. However, despite its potential, The Jungle didn't deliver for me. The shaky camera work is so excessive and in your face that it's nauseating, maybe it was a deliberate effect but it just felt too much. The script could have been much tighter, it relies on too much repetition- with a lot of chasing and running around screaming-, there is too much talk in places and the exposition at the beginning doesn't tell us very much. The story of course is deliberately slow-burning and has moments but the suspense and tension only come in splashes and not consistently, coupled with the repetitive nature, the slow pacing and the too-long amount of time it takes to build up The Jungle did feel more tedious than thrilling. At no point did I care or feel any degree of empathy for the characters despite the actors' best efforts. Larry especially is one of those who we dislike from the get go and the more the movie progressed the more the dislike turned to hate, he came across as arrogant and self-absorbed who didn't seem to give a toss about anybody else with him. As for the creature, apart from a growl, glaring eyes and the cover art it is literally non-existent, again a deliberate effect most likely but one that made the conflict not credible in the least bit and in the end you just don't care what it is. The pay-off at best is unsatisfactory, very close to not being one in fact. So overall, didn't deliver personally but could have been far worse. 4/10 Bethany Cox
