The Ridges

The Ridges is an improv movie that lives or dies on the strength of the performances, of each actors they have good moments and bad moments.

Captured on videotape, (I think) color 8mm, The Ridges is compelling as a faux documentary.

Still, a few good minutes of footage does not make a movie stellar. The movie is okay, and often funny, but it is not a horror movie more so a thriller if anything. However, for the thriller buffs or indie film fan, this is a great example of something, for you because it does not get more independent than this.

I had to rethink grading this movie after watching all of the features on the special edition. Because I was very critical on the directing and acting however after finding out that it was not any of the actors(really) directing the camera I was more accepting. Also with a outline based script I was more understanding that the director allowed the actors to use a natural feel I completely understand this project as a whole.

Not to live by the claim of "Movie of the Year" this film has plenty of flaws that most can be forgiven but not all. I would love to see more footage of what they were running from! Where was it? I was expecting more but it never came about. Thank God it did not have shaken camera syndrome I would've been very upset. I would've like more character development between the characters it seemed as if they were partying then the mention a little bit about doing an investigation then "BOOM" they are there it seemed rushed. I don't understand how come none of the girls touched the camera(In the movie)because we only watched one guy in the first half of the film. I completely understand this film was made in Ohio BUT there has to be more talent there than this.

I did like the fact that some of the things were planned out i.e. The Ending. Things wrapped up kind of cool I was just expecting something different... not necessarily a bad thing. This film will most likely get compared to Paranormal Activity but I think it is more like Blair Witch than anything.

"The Ridges" is an ingenious little horror film, so well made it's truly scary, that arrives claiming it's the real thing. Without any form of conventional opening or closing credits, it begins by the Athen, OH police department has found this footage and closes with one of those "current whereabouts unknown" title cards and a screen of copyright notices. This was apparently a film made without a director, a writer, a producer, grips, makeup, sound, catering or a honey wagon.

All of the footage is presented as if it had been discovered after the fact. They've been bothered by indications of some sort of paranormal activity in an abandoned asylum.

One benefit of the story device is that for long periods of time the camera is ostensibly left on with no one running it. It's on a tripod at the end of their bed while they sleep, and we see events while their eyes are closed. Some of these events and very minor, and I won't describe any of them. The fact that they happen at all is the whole point. That they seem to happen by themselves, witnessed by a static camera, makes them eerie, especially since there are some shots that seem impossible without special effects, and there's no visible evidence of f/x, looking as closely as we can.

But like "The Blair Witch Project," with which it's routinely compared, it goes to great lengths to seem like a film found after the event. It works. It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored.

It's the found footage genre again, with an intriguing and extraordinarily well produced little gem from virtual unknown Brandon Landers and a cast who play themselves with such convincing aplomb that you'll find yourself wondering, despite knowing that it cannot possibly be so, whether this is a case of life imitating art.

It isn't. You're watching a drama. But the realism is sublime, and the voyeuristic entertainment so often overlooked in this shaky cam style of movie-making is here in spades.

The found footage phenomenon has a certain fan base, and that fan base will either love or hate The Ridges. If, for example, you enjoyed Grave Encounters or REC, you'll find The Ridges amateurish and long winded. Because it's a lengthy film and much of it is far too subtle for its target audience. In making something for the most likely target audience, I think, Landers has failed - but it's a good kind of fail because in refusing to pander to the demands of the status quo (whether by design or by accident of bad editing) what results is cult classic; an atmospheric fly-on-the-wall experience in which suspension of disbelief is virtually total and we, the audience, find ourselves as close to seeing an actual paranormal event unfold as we're ever likely to come.

The premise is simple. Collage buddies Rob and Ryan and their respective girlfriends Roberta and Alana are a typical gang, not too bright, not too driven. They have an idea for a school project which, in some vague way, involves disproving the idea of the paranormal by taking a video camera and spending one night in an abandoned lunatic asylum.

So far, so familiar, although in these things the intention is usually to prove the existence of ghosts rather than disprove them.

There's a big build up in which we become as cosy with the group and their peripheral friends as if we were part of the frat lifestyle ourselves. Ad-libbed conversations are easy, arguments are as realistic as they come and the hackneyed way the group throw together their project is such a perfect observation of modern college life that you won't believe you're watching a performance.

To his credit, Landers never falls back on screamers, ghostly apparitions of wraith-like creatures crawling across ceilings or extreme close ups of white faced, eyeless monsters with gaping mouths. if that's what you're hoping for, prepare to be disappointed. The horror here is psychological and as subtle and smart as it gets, but no less shocking for it. The final scene, which lasts perhaps no more than thirty seconds, is one of the most disturbing things I've witnessed in a movie of this genre to date.

In short, a brilliant piece of work but ultimately a failure in its idiom because teenagers will be bored, technical fans will hate the footage (often unwatchable) and hardcore horror fans won't get the gore they crave. But for die-hard advocates of smart, new and innovative indie film making The Ridges is nothing shy of perfection.

I do not know how to describe The Ridges??? Thriller? Mystery? Drama? Comedy? I guess the one thing that comes to my mind is Paranormal Thriller! I enjoyed the story and the direction of the movie but I was not a fan of the acting and the excessive cursing from those actors.At first I did not like the look of the filmbut...once i watched the movie again I understood that Rob suppose to not know much about camera specs.I wonder if they will decide to go forward with a sequel? Maybe the could explore more of the story/history in a sequel? I would not go in the same format as this one but maybe better acting. All in all I liked this movie.Im staying tuned.

I watched this movie with my daughter, who is a Sophomore at OU, and frequently tells me that it's the most haunted campus in the United States. She was delighted to see this film, and recognized many of the locations.

Having said that, the film is very slow, the plot minimal and the characters are completely generic. The special effects are very odd, as far as we can tell were done on Final Cut 7, attempting to mimic film...? One or two of them were effective, most were just awkward and distracting.

The best thing that's I can say about the film is that it was clearly made by people who love the genre. There are many worse movies out there.