User reviews

James (Nick Stahl) and Amy (Mia Kirshner) is a common couple that lives at 388 Arletta Avenue. Out of the blue, a mysterious stalker sneaks in their home and bugs it with microphones and cameras positioned in order to cover the whole house. When Amy vanishes and leaves a handwritten letter to James, he suspects that someone has broken in his home. He calls the police, but the police officer does not give credit to him. Weird things happen in the house and James becomes paranoid without realizing that his movements are seen by the stalker. His obsession to discover what might have happened to Amy leads the family to a tragic end.

"388 Arletta Avenue" is a surprisingly effective low-budget thriller that gives a refreshing use to the washed-up formula of "The Blair Witch Project". The story could be shorter, but the tension increases along 87 minutes running time to a surprising and very creepy conclusion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Avenida do Terror, 388" ("388 Terror Avenue")

Note: On 15 November 2022, I saw this film again.

This is a movie that rides on the trend of the whole found footage/hidden camera movie sub-genre. But is it doing anything new or interesting enough with it? Not really.

It's of course hard to come up with something new and remaining fresh and interesting, since most had been done with the concept already and there is only so much you can do with it, since it's a quite restricting concept. It's restricted with its settings and movements and it is hard to keep things interesting for about 90 minutes, without starting to repeat yourself. This movie however does become a bit tiresome after a short while.

It mostly becomes a tiresome movie since it maintains its 'mystery' for its entire running time. You don't know what is going on exactly, or what direction the movie will be heading at. This all sounds like some good and positive points about the movie but it's actually more sort of annoying, since basically everything can happen at the end, when the big 'reveal' comes. The movie doesn't drop any hints and stuff just happens, without you feeling involved with any of it.

I kept thinking to myself; there better be a good resolution to all of this by the end, that explains everything as well, to let all of the events make sense. But no, in my opinion the movie takes a cheap way out and it absolutely wasn't satisfying enough and it's the sort of ending that leaves more questions than answers, especially when you start thinking back about the movie.

It of course still could had been good and worked out all if the movie was a bit more tense. For a thriller it is surely lacking some good tension at times and doesn't ever gets you involved enough as a viewer, though the movie still tries to achieve this through its concept.

The concept and camera-position are supposed to place you in the mind of the stalker. It's a voyeuristic movie but again, since you don't know any of the motivations or reasons for the events, you don't ever feel involved with it. It just doesn't do a good enough job at making and keeping things interesting and fresh enough to keep you interested in the story, its mystery and to what will happen with its characters.

I did like Nick Stahl in his role, on a more positive note. He has to carry most of the movie entirely on his own and does a pretty good job with it. Too bad that the movie didn't really knew what to do with his character.

It's not the worst thing you will ever see but it just isn't exactly a good or original enough movie to recommend either.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

388 ARLETTA AVENUE is a stalker thriller that's so long-winded, low-key, and drawn-out, that it becomes a literal chore just to sit through it from beginning to end. The box proclaimed that it was from the makers of CUBE, which seems to be a bit of a lie given that CUBE's director and writer aren't involved and producers count for nothing anyway. Unless they had a guy who formerly worked as a runner or tea boy on CUBE and put his name on there for the hell of it.

In any case, this is firmly a found footage movie, with an ordinary suburban couple whose lives are being unknowingly filmed by a stalker who has set up dozens of cameras throughout their house. A not-bad premise as it goes, but that's it; that's the story, and nothing else happens. Sure, there are a few incidents involving the police, pets, kidnapping, and the like, but this comes across as a non-supernatural PARANORMAL ACTIVITY but without that film's jump scares or creepy moments. It's just boring.

The film's husband protagonist is played by Nick Stahl (TERMINATOR 3), who could equally have played the stalker character. His wife is played by former child actress Mia Kirshner, who has very little to work with. Devon Sawa, former star of FINAL DESTINATION, is in the film as well, and he's aged into a convincingly hard-looking thug which fits his role quite nicely here. A shame they didn't have a real story to go with the set-up.

The trailer for this promised much, but in actual fact there is very little here. Maybe a great movie for a voyeur, everyone else should stay well away. At around 1hr 26mins it is quite probably a good 26mins too long, and could have been done as a TV special or similar. The main problem is that very little happens apart from the stranger watching them, which is happening from the opening shot, this is then dragged out for the rest of the movie and you find nothing out about the stranger or his/her motives. After an hour we just wanted it to end, and when it did, it gave absolutely nothing away and left you just thinking you should have maybe washed the car or done something useful rather than waste your time on this. This maybe harsh but, sorry, a complete waste of time.

I am always up to watching a movie that is slightly out there, not your usual Hollywood blockbuster but I have to admit that I wasted an hour and a half of my lifetime watching this. I realize everyone has their own opinions when it comes to a movie but I was left disappointed and scratching my head in bewilderment at this movie. It lack any sort of meaning, the story line was weak and I think I only watched it all in the hope that maybe it may get a little bit better but it didn't. The acting it's self wasn't too shabby but I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you have an hour and a half to waste and don't feel like watching the kettle boil.

This whole "found footage" genre is really being run into the ground. "388 Arletta Avenue" attempts to take on genre in an original way, but due to unlikeable characters, a dull plot line, and a terrible ending this film just falls into the endless pit of bad "found footage" films.

The main character in this film was just one of the dumbest characters ever in any horror film. His actions will frustrate you to the point where you will want to shut the movie off. The way he goes about things is just so unrealistic and stupid, this makes it pretty much impossible to root for him.

The main problem I had with the movie was the fact that it was just plain out uninteresting. I honestly didn't really care about anything or anyone in this film because they did such a terrible job of setting everything up. Things start out very fast but not in a good way. You never really get a chance to get to know any of the characters, so once things start happening to them you don't really care.

"388 Arletta Avenue" was a very dull experience. A huge waste of time, avoid this one. Only positive thing I can say about this movie is that it wasn't the worst "found footage" film I've seen.

2/10

This is not a good movie... Even though it has nick stahl and devon saw a, this film falls flat on its face immediately. There is a TOTAL absence of any real atmosphere, dread, or tension. I literally own at least 200 found footage movies on dvd and blu ray and I am VERY fair when judging a movie because as a filmmaker myself, I understand just making a movie is a huge feat. However, Arletta Ave will always be remembered amongst all my ff movies......as being one of the worst right along side "the house on the wrong side of the tracks" super low budget ff films are better than this drudge because, in them, there is usually some level of tension... 388 Arletta Ave: what not to do when making a movie

I don't write reviews, but feel this is worthy. I don't understand the pow scores. I'd even watch a part two and hope the writer/director make one. Plausible acting and reactions. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Creepy and suspenseful, and honestly my worst nightmare, someone watching me. I won't say more to spoil. The negative reviews are people that are looking for Hollywood effects. This is a cerebral movie without the glitz which I appreciate.if you are looking for a decent, slow burn, realistic suspense...give this a try. This style of movie, the good acting and good production reminds me the Blackwell Ghost series. Keep it coming Randall Cole!

I am a fan of Stahl movies but this movie short of a filming perspective falls at the bottom in my opinion.This movie if turned in by a film student would probably get high grades but to pay or even watch for free it is a complete waste of money and unless heavily interested in film a waste of time.Although it is good to see movies like this being made I wish there were more reviews and a more honest rating of this movie.If you would like to see a movie filmed semi original with a semi original plot and don't mind being bored through it this is for you.The actors performances (well Nicks) is good and the idea of it and the filming are both something you don't come across often.The plot however has huge holes and or leaves to many questions that honestly I didn't even care about.

I don't recommend to watch this. It tries to be a thriller but fails miserably. I will put all the illogical things aside. Somwhat in the middle the movie managed to became a liitle promising before turning to utter garbage. If you like movies that keeps that mistery box thing going like forever only to have an unstatisfying ending then this is the movie for you.Basically you get a movie that forces you during the overly long runtime in to thinking what is all behind this, only to get an ending that could have been written by a preschooler. It is both objectively a bad thriller and also a bad horror-movie. It is really a waste of time, i don't know what the screenwritter was thinking when writting this maybe he was on drugs idk.

The idea/concept behind this movie is a really good one. The way it is shot though, may appall a lot of people from the get go. Having the "shaky cam" and fuzzy cameras including sound variation is actually pretty annoying (although you do wonder where some film material is coming from, but that's another story).

Nick Stahl plays the lead role and he has a lot to carry. Too much for him in my view. He can't pull off that transformation the character is going through. His outbursts are actually silly and look more like he's crazy than an actual human being. But for this movie to work, it has to be believable. And it just isn't. If you can't overlook the many flaws this movie has (like me), you won't really like this either. Acting wise it's unfortunately not up to the task (though the story/character changes do not help at times either).

It's Friday night. It's raining. It's one week and then we have Halloween. A perfect night for a horror movie. We don't check '388 Arletta Avenue' on IMDb, so I can see this film very objectively. The movie starts, as a true movie lover, I'm excited about what's going to follow.

10 minutes later, I start regretting. Because I realize the acting is so bad and there is no actual story. It's a dumb and stupid movie trying to make money out of the popular 'documentary style' movies. OK it's fine ,as a director you choose to use that technique, but that doesn't mean you don't need a DECENT STORY. Or that you don't need DECENT ACTORS. The movie really annoys, a lot of dead moments and the main actor ... is no actor at all. After a while you see this movie as a big joke. Big, big disappointment, don't ruin your evening by watching this... eh movie is not the right word.

I would say 0/10. But IMDb doesn't have that option so it's 1/10.

I enjoyed this movie from start to finish, different and Interesting film making, I'd really like to see a sequel please.

Like many other found footage films without a real plot. This has a stalker secretly filming a couple and the disappearance of the wife causes the husband to freak out. And that's the movie. Nothing wrong with it, but also nothing much there either.