The Collingswood Story

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.

The proof that you REALLY don't need all those millions to make good entertainment. This low budget gem has it all. A clever script, believable characters, a very good background story and it is fast paced enough for no one to lose interest in it along the way.

If you liked Blair Witch (and you will be comparing this one with it more than once) you will love The Collingswood Story.

Those big-shot moviemakers in Hollywood have a LOT to learn with Michael Constanza.

Don't miss it!

an online friend of mine recommended this film to me and im eternally grateful, since Blair Witch,Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity hit at the box office this genre seems to be growing and growing but whats odd is that quality found footage horror films like this one just seem to slip under the radar so to speak, it is easily on a par with Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch, in fact i found the way it built the suspense and the subtle clues it left during the films dialogue that points to an unexpected conclusion is very clever indeed, in fact if you watch it twice you truly appreciate it more, The director got great performances out of the 4 main characters and Stephanie Dees is particularly good in her role, I would recommend watching it alone as there is nothing worse than watching it with someone who demands constant blood and gore in their horror or at least 1 death every 10 mins as they will annoy you, but if you appreciate suspense and subtlety in your horror you will really enjoy this one

I watched this out of pure curiosity. And I have to confess; I thought it would suck! But it's actually really good!

First off, it's very original. It's told through webcamconversations between four persons (but mainly just two of them). The whole thing is made that way, and I think it worked really good. A creative take on the "found footage" genre, absolutely. You really feel that you're watching something special right from the beginning. Sadly, I think many viewers may just turn it off because of the "cheap and low" production. Hell, I almost did it myself. This one is even more "low budget" than what we usually put that stamp on. But after 15 minutes, that doesn't matter anymore. A higher budget wouldn't even make it better, because I really feel that this is the way it should be. It makes it more realistic, like real web-conversations. There are no special effects in a real life.

A problem I have with some "found footage" movies, is the cast. If they do a bad job acting, I won't "believe" that what I'm seeing is true. And if the footage isn't believable at all, then the whole movie is wasted. However, this ain't one of those. I really liked the performances by the actors.

I'm giving it a 8 out of 10, and that it deserves. If you're into this kind of movies, and got an open mind, you should absolutely watch it. A creative peace of work.

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.