Crowsnest

A group of incredibly annoying friends get lost on their way to a vacation spot and up in the titular rundown backwoods town. Oh and it's yet another of those 'found footage' horror films. Yup, the most overdone irritating sub-genre of the last decade or two is still going strong into the present day.

This particular example of that over-saturated sub-genre adds pretty much nothing to the paper and, aside from a small handful of choice scenes (mostly towards the end) really isn't worthy of your valuable time. I'm due for a good film as it seems like I've been seeing crappy ones way too frequently lately. Not a good ratio.

Eye Candy: Mittita Barber gets (very) briefly topless

Streaming on Netflix as of 5/15/13

Crowsnest (2012)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Five friends go out to the middle of nowhere for no good reason when they are menaced by a RV who just happens to have cannibals inside. CROWSNEST is the latest "found footage" film and it's also one of the worst. I must admit that I'm a fan of this genre but at the same time we are getting so many of these pictures and none of them are really setting themselves apart. There are many problems with this one including the fact that it's pretty much just DELIVERANCE, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and WRONG TURN thrown together. There are even a few scenes lifted from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT including the entire "talking/crying to the camera." I think on all future found footage movies is one big rule that shouldn't be broken and that annoying supporting characters screaming at the guy with the camera to turn it off. There's probably ten-minutes worth of footage here with people screaming about him filming everything but we, the viewer, knows he's not going to turn it off or else there would be no movie. So please, future filmmakers, quit these scenes because they're quite annoying. Another problem with this movie is that the five characters really aren't all that likable so it's hard to care about what happens to them. Add in the fact that they're rather annoying at times and you're left with even more reasons not to like or care about them. The performances are fairly good for this type of production and I will say that director Brenton Spencer at least handled a few of the scenes well. One example is when the kids first chase the RV and then this plan backfires on them. CROWSNEST features some gore, a lot of screaming and the typical found footage trappings but sadly it's a pretty boring affair.

OK, the "found footage" movies have run their course. There are better ways to add realism to a movie without giving you a headache.

This is a very familiar plot, young kids ignoring the ominous signs and outright warnings to turn around. If they weren't so likable, you would be happy to see them get killed. Yes, I found them, especially the girls, realistic and enjoyable to watch. In turn, I rooted for their survival and felt their fear.

Yes, it was annoying to see so many foliage and foot shots and bouncing video but the tension survived. If it was shot like a normal movie I think it would receive a much higher rating.

The violence was sudden, shocking and effective. The acting was adequate and the plot, while far from original, still kept you invested. Worth watching, just try and ignore the filming method.

A one million dollar budget and this is what you can do? Lmao one of the worst movies, and cast I've ever seen. Over dramatic, makes no sense, bad acting. Don't direct any more movies. Was the point of the movie to make the watchers HATE IT? Literally couldn't wait to see them all die just because it was so annoying. ANNND Danielle was the best character and you made her get hit first? Bruh I'm dead. So bad. Rocky had a 200,000 dollar budget and was one of the greatest movies in existence.

First the bad and okay stuff: The movie's plot is unoriginal, the going on a camping trip and die plot has already been used plenty of times and the found footage idea has been used a lot as well. The actors are portrayed as real mid twenty "just out of college" kids, which they did a great job at portraying (the acting was okay) though it became very annoying because kids like that can be very annoying. At first I wanted them to die but then I was hoping they would make it out alive once the action happened. The ending... well watch it yourself I don't want to spoil anything. There wasn't really any twists, there was a few cheesy moments in the beginning and a few bad lines in the script which I cringed at. The plot was straightforward and simple, these "camping trip" movies are not normally known for their great plots so I didn't go in expecting anything shocking.

The good stuff: The word "horror" absolutely applies to this movie, I was horrified during certain scenes. My heart was pumping and I felt like I was there, it actually gave me a twisted feeling after the movie. Once the action started it was a complete on the edge of you're seat thrill ride till the end. If you've seen "yellow brick road" the horror is similar, I guess I would call it "psychological gore". Besides one or two lines the acting was fine, bad acting is something that could ruin a movie and that wasn't the case here (not saying it was great though).

My conclusion: This movie isn't great, its by no means bad though. I watched this on a day when I was relatively bored and I wasn't disappointed. There are a few good things and a few bad things about this movie, the problem is there is nothing GREAT about the movie. If you're looking for a horror/psychological thriller movie and can't find anything you're overly interested in you should give this a watch, I'm glad I did. I think a 5.5 rating is good for this movie, I wanted to give it a 6 but it just didn't made the cut, I gave it a 5 because the rating is already 5.8.