The Collingswood Story

What a surprise this little gem is! This horror film is gripping as is unfolds and parses out the town's secret piece by piece. The setting is a old house in a small suburban town of Camden, NJ, (which is in the shadow of Philadelphia, Pa). Living in a Rutgers-Camden off campus housing apartment in Collingswood, NJ, Rebecca keeps in touch with her out of state boyfriend using her computer laptop and a internet web phone. Kudos to the kids for being so tech savvy. Online they stumble across a horrific secret about the town. Things go downhill from there. I know this town, and while the story is a fiction, the town does have history. Even though the town borough incorporated in 1888 at the breakup of Newton Township, the area was first settled by Europeans in the 1680s. Crows Park is actually Knights Park, and Haddon Avenue and Lees Lane do exist! The movie is unrated, but I would consider it PG. There are pretty intense scary scenes. Not suitable for children under 13. Great Halloween movie in the dorms.

This is my first time writing on the IMDb and I can't think of a better film to rave about. I don't intend to give the synopsis, because it's been done well enough already. I would just rather explain why I have such a high opinion of it. Something about this story intrigued me so I took a chance and ordered the DVD two years ago. It was one of the wiser things I have done. On the surface, this movie is a rather subdued (until the last 10 minutes) back and forth dialog. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a lot of talk as long as it's worth listening to, and maybe at first it may seem as if some of this talk is not. However, Mike Costanza really knows how to pull the strings. Below the surface there is a real tight woven story here and it delivers. This is creepiness on a small scale and I really wish I could find more movies like it. This gem has terrific acting and some real eerie subliminal type images, ala The "Excorcist". One part where a face appears on a wall as the scene fades out, left me wondering if I had imagined it, because I missed it the first time. The sets are true to life and you feel as if you are being invited into the whole thing as a third party. John and Rebecca are likable and after a few viewings you feel a part of their story. It's not easy to catch everything that Mike Costanza is trying to throw at you in one viewing, at least it was not for me. But after seeing it again I had a much greater appreciation for his style and effort. The ending is very satisfying but leaves you wanting more, which really is a compliment. If the word is true, that Anchor Bay intends to release this, than be watchful and grab it. For you who have yet to see it, pay very close attention when the chance arises. Watch and listen as well as you can, because there is a whole heck of a lot of story going on underneath. This really is the type of movie best viewed at night in a very quiet setting. I would love to have my friend show this at his show The Monster Mania Con. The con is only down the road from Collingswood, NJ. Good luck in finding it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I found out about THE COLLINGSWOOD STORY online, and decided to drop the $20 bones to see what all the fuss was about. And I am thrilled that I did. Sometimes those chances blow up in your face, and sometimes you get lucky, come across a hidden gem. Like this one. I was blown away, I kid you not. Oh yeah, sure, it will inevitably get comparisons made to The Blair Witch Project or The Last Broadcast. And as much as I initially enjoyed Blair Witch, after subsequent viewings of The Collingswood Story, I absentmindedly scratch my head and ask, "Blair WHO??".

The story is told completely through the lenses of webcams. Its very voyeuristic, almost intrusive, the way the story plays out. It gets going early, introducing the viewer to the lead actor and actress (great job of casting, and excellently acted!) who use webcams to communicate with one another while she attends college. After an online consultation with a psycic, strange coincidences unfold between our protaganists, and suddenly the viewer is caught up in a supernatural storyline that, if filmed any other way, would not have been quite as effective.

BRAVO, Mr. Costanza, bravo! The director, Mike Costanza, really shows and proves that a big budget and big name stars is NOT necessary to tell a good story. This micro-budgeted effort is above and beyond anything the major studios have released in the past seven, eight years. It truly defies its low budget origin, thanks to Mr. Costanza's writing, and the abilities of the films stars to convincingly play out their parts. Put this one on late at night, turn off the lights, and prepare to be shocked, surprised, and scared! A solid 9 out of 10.

Watched so many B rated movies and for its time (2002) I could see why this could be good. If you watch this now, you can feel that it might be dated and that you have seen this already. It was still fun seeing characters use the old internet stuff.

"The Collingswood Story," told entirely through webcam footage, follows a young woman, Rebecca, who has relocated to Collingswood, New Jersey to attend Rutgers University. To stay in touch with her boyfriend Johnny, the two communicate via video chat. One night, he plays a prank by setting her up to chat with a bizarre online psychic. The psychic not only seems to know personal details about the couple, but also the dark history of the house that Rebecca has moved into—a history that includes ritual murder and strange goings-on in the attic.

Released in 2002, this film has often been compared to "The Blair Witch Project," though there is a notable difference in presentation here, as "Collingswood" is framed through online video chat. Years later, the film is something of a time capsule of an era in which wi-fi and smartphones did not exist, and webcams were a new technology. In that sense, the film feels dated, but also strangely current given that video chat has become a cultural mainstay.

The narrative arc here is quite simple, taking place over a period of a few days before Halloween, in which the two characters come to the conclusion that there is something very odd about the house Rebecca has rented a room in. There are a few amateurish flashy scare effects here and there, and the editing is at at times rather choppy, but the bulk of the film consists of one-on-one video conversations that are weirdly absorbing. The two leads manage to make the conversations surprisingly believable, and the film is very atmospheric; which is odd given that we rarely get any glimpses of the world outside of their respective bedrooms. In spite of that, there is a distinctive, chilly autumnal atmosphere that creeps into the film—the characters only seem to video chat in the evenings, and watching the conversations gives the audience the voyeuristic sense that we're looking in on their private lives and personal spaces.

Ancillary to the central plot is Billy, one of Johnny's friends who appears (also via webcam correspondence), while the enigmatic Vera Madeline is the bizarre online psychic. Her scenes are among the most unnerving, drenched in darkness and lit only by a row of candles behind her; her hair is slicked back, and she inexplicably dons sunglasses. It's just generally weird, and aesthetically unnerving. The conclusion to the film is a bit ambiguous, and though the last ten minutes are notably suspenseful, I felt a bit disappointed when the credits rolled. The end scene is very much frightening, but didn't pack enough torque to truly satisfy in my opinion.

All in all though, "The Collingswood Story" is nonetheless an absorbing indie horror movie. It's dated in some regards and wears its amateurish qualities on its sleeve, but there is something surprisingly engrossing about it in its simplicity. Through the format, the viewer is allowed access into the interior worlds of the characters, where something very unusual begins to take hold, and there is something inexplicably frightening about that. Films like "Paranormal Activity" would come to recreate a similar formula in flashier ways. 7/10.