388 Arletta Avenue

This is a movie that rides on the trend of the whole found footage/hidden camera movie sub-genre. But is it doing anything new or interesting enough with it? Not really.

It's of course hard to come up with something new and remaining fresh and interesting, since most had been done with the concept already and there is only so much you can do with it, since it's a quite restricting concept. It's restricted with its settings and movements and it is hard to keep things interesting for about 90 minutes, without starting to repeat yourself. This movie however does become a bit tiresome after a short while.

It mostly becomes a tiresome movie since it maintains its 'mystery' for its entire running time. You don't know what is going on exactly, or what direction the movie will be heading at. This all sounds like some good and positive points about the movie but it's actually more sort of annoying, since basically everything can happen at the end, when the big 'reveal' comes. The movie doesn't drop any hints and stuff just happens, without you feeling involved with any of it.

I kept thinking to myself; there better be a good resolution to all of this by the end, that explains everything as well, to let all of the events make sense. But no, in my opinion the movie takes a cheap way out and it absolutely wasn't satisfying enough and it's the sort of ending that leaves more questions than answers, especially when you start thinking back about the movie.

It of course still could had been good and worked out all if the movie was a bit more tense. For a thriller it is surely lacking some good tension at times and doesn't ever gets you involved enough as a viewer, though the movie still tries to achieve this through its concept.

The concept and camera-position are supposed to place you in the mind of the stalker. It's a voyeuristic movie but again, since you don't know any of the motivations or reasons for the events, you don't ever feel involved with it. It just doesn't do a good enough job at making and keeping things interesting and fresh enough to keep you interested in the story, its mystery and to what will happen with its characters.

I did like Nick Stahl in his role, on a more positive note. He has to carry most of the movie entirely on his own and does a pretty good job with it. Too bad that the movie didn't really knew what to do with his character.

It's not the worst thing you will ever see but it just isn't exactly a good or original enough movie to recommend either.

5/10

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I am always up to watching a movie that is slightly out there, not your usual Hollywood blockbuster but I have to admit that I wasted an hour and a half of my lifetime watching this. I realize everyone has their own opinions when it comes to a movie but I was left disappointed and scratching my head in bewilderment at this movie. It lack any sort of meaning, the story line was weak and I think I only watched it all in the hope that maybe it may get a little bit better but it didn't. The acting it's self wasn't too shabby but I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you have an hour and a half to waste and don't feel like watching the kettle boil.

388 ARLETTA AVENUE is a stalker thriller that's so long-winded, low-key, and drawn-out, that it becomes a literal chore just to sit through it from beginning to end. The box proclaimed that it was from the makers of CUBE, which seems to be a bit of a lie given that CUBE's director and writer aren't involved and producers count for nothing anyway. Unless they had a guy who formerly worked as a runner or tea boy on CUBE and put his name on there for the hell of it.

In any case, this is firmly a found footage movie, with an ordinary suburban couple whose lives are being unknowingly filmed by a stalker who has set up dozens of cameras throughout their house. A not-bad premise as it goes, but that's it; that's the story, and nothing else happens. Sure, there are a few incidents involving the police, pets, kidnapping, and the like, but this comes across as a non-supernatural PARANORMAL ACTIVITY but without that film's jump scares or creepy moments. It's just boring.

The film's husband protagonist is played by Nick Stahl (TERMINATOR 3), who could equally have played the stalker character. His wife is played by former child actress Mia Kirshner, who has very little to work with. Devon Sawa, former star of FINAL DESTINATION, is in the film as well, and he's aged into a convincingly hard-looking thug which fits his role quite nicely here. A shame they didn't have a real story to go with the set-up.

The trailer for this promised much, but in actual fact there is very little here. Maybe a great movie for a voyeur, everyone else should stay well away. At around 1hr 26mins it is quite probably a good 26mins too long, and could have been done as a TV special or similar. The main problem is that very little happens apart from the stranger watching them, which is happening from the opening shot, this is then dragged out for the rest of the movie and you find nothing out about the stranger or his/her motives. After an hour we just wanted it to end, and when it did, it gave absolutely nothing away and left you just thinking you should have maybe washed the car or done something useful rather than waste your time on this. This maybe harsh but, sorry, a complete waste of time.

I am a fan of Stahl movies but this movie short of a filming perspective falls at the bottom in my opinion.This movie if turned in by a film student would probably get high grades but to pay or even watch for free it is a complete waste of money and unless heavily interested in film a waste of time.Although it is good to see movies like this being made I wish there were more reviews and a more honest rating of this movie.If you would like to see a movie filmed semi original with a semi original plot and don't mind being bored through it this is for you.The actors performances (well Nicks) is good and the idea of it and the filming are both something you don't come across often.The plot however has huge holes and or leaves to many questions that honestly I didn't even care about.