psychofox-88511

I'm not going to spend too much time reviewing the film in detail - plenty of people have already done that - but I will say that it was great to see the return to the dark. Claustrophobic environments that are as much a part of what the franchise should be as the titular creature.

The use of old-fashioned chunky keyboards, monochromatic CRT screens and sleepy computers, as well as the general sense of industrial grime in the locations really marked back to the original films in the best possible way.

The apparent choice to base the visuals of the mining planet after another Rodley Scott masterpiece (Blade Runner) was also a brilliant touch.

Unfortunately, this reliance on the source movies was the main thing that I felt kept Romulus from really being outstanding.

There are so many references to previous films, often shoe-horned in clumsily ("Get away from her, you b*tch!"), that they became distracting. I'd have much preferred if the film had stood on its own two feet rather than constantly making blatant callbacks to the earlier films.

I also felt that it tried to do too much, by incorporating elements from almost all of the Alien cannon - even entries many fans may not have cared to be reminded of. It's like it was trying to be the glue that tied the whole franchise together, when all it needed to do was telling a good story in a style that was faithful to the original.

While these issues really disappointed me, I can say that the film itself did not. Despite the unwelcome distractions and endless, unnecessary callbacks, I thoroughly enjoyed Romulus, and did feel like I was returning to the universe of the original films for the first time in decades.

Found footage is a favourite choice for film-makers with miniscule budgets because the medium lends itself well to thrifty movie-making. You can get away with not showing the monster clearly; not worrying too much about mise en scène; not having flashy special effects. This is largely what makes found footage work: it's raw, unfiltered and, above all, it feels genuine.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing number of found footage films where the creators have opted for the genre to save money, without actually considering what makes an FF film work.

Mind Body Spirit is one if these films. Ostensibly a collection of recordings from a wannabe YouTube star making wellness videos, the film falls at the first hurdle by completely undermining the idea that this is anything but a low-budget film.

It breaks a cardinal sin of Found Footage by having a soundtrack. There is ambient music and non-diagetic sound throughout, which immediately makes the film seem completely disingenuous. The filmmakers seem to have added it because, y'know, that's what happens in scary movies, forgetting that this is meant to be a series of candid, unedited recordings from an amateur filmmaker.

Then there are scenes which seem to be showing what's going on in the protagonists head, despite the fact that it makes no sense that the camera would capture them.

There was the scene with the "string", which featured such laughably unrealistic and entirely unnecessary special effects, it brought the while scene to a grinding halt.

And there are all the scenes where the camera moves in it's own, with no explanation, in just the right way to capture things in a cinematic way.

If you're going to make a found footage film, every single attempt you make to be more cinematic weakens the authenticity, and ultimately just reminds the viewer that they're watching a zero-budget indy movie.

I'm going to keep this brief, because if I go into details about what's wrong with this film I'll run out of space. I almost never rate films this poorly but I really struggled to find anything positive in this movie.

The plot is a essentially the same as Insidious with a few cosmetic changes. It hits all the same beats and re-uses the same tired tropes (Family move into a house with a secret history - check. Teenage daughter has beef with warm, caring stepmom - check. Kid's creepy drawings - check. The truth about that childhood incident? - check. Unlikely 'expert' who somehow understands everything that's happening - check.)

The dialogue and scripting are cringeworthy, especially in the latter half when the drama ramps up (well, attempts to). The final twenty-or-so minutes were so toe-curlingly awful I was genuinely willing it all to be over.

Remember that famous scene from Deep Blue Sea where Samuel L Jackson get's eaten by a shark? Well, there's a moment just like that here, which whould have been hilarious if it wasn't so utterly predictable: I didn't just know it was coming; I knew exactly when it would happen. The whole film is like that: totally predictable and devoid of any scares whatsoever. Why? Because you've seen this all before, many times, and with better execution.

There are a few attempts to do the right thing here, and these alone have bumped my rating up to two stars: There are lots of practical effects rather than copious CGI. Unfortunately, they're rarely up to the task and just look ridiculous (that bear?!). There are also some fairly nice-looking sets in the final act of the film, though even these are derivative of other things and are under-utilised. Some of the actors are clearly competent too, but they're just completely ham-strung by the awful scripts they've been given.

Take away the financial backing and distribution this film so undeservedly enjoyed and you're left with a derivative, soulless, and utterly amateurish attempt at a movie. Frustrating, because I've seen plenty of actual amateur movies that had way more thought and talent behind them, but lacked the budget to realise their potential. Maybe Blumhouse should try investing more in real upcoming talent rather than shameless cash-grabs like this.