Die Präsenz

I have now, like many of us, seen pretty much all manner of "Found Footage" flicks. Some pretty damn good. Some so-so. And FAR too many just flat-out dreadful. However, out of this whole "Hit or Miss" bunch I can't recall one that wasn't made in the USA. That is until I took a chance on a German entry into this past-it's-prime genre, "Die Präsenz" ("The Presence"). And I gotta say, I would plop this one down right smack-dab between "pretty damn good" and "so-so" on the worthwhile-to-watch spectrum.

You will likely join me in finding that it takes a good while before things get crackin' here (Do the Germans have a fascination with prolonged camera shots of watching people sleep? As in, like, SEVERAL such scenes). But once Writer/Director/Producer Daniele Grieco (hey, dude pretty much HAD to do it all on a reported $40,000 budget) fires things up here the ages-old haunted castle terrorized by an unseen and ruthlessly inhospitable entity yarn gets a fairly fresh new spin that should leave you both sufficiently entertained and adequately creeped out.

I am not gonna lie; this is the most generic paranormal movie I have ever seen. That being said, nothing about it ever made me want to stop watching. Never did I think that it was a bad movie. For some reason, it seemed fitting that this movie was generic, and it somehow made perfect sense. There is not anything negative to say about it, but there is not really anything positive either. It is a perfect, bland movie. There is not much to suprise you, but it will not disappoint either.

This ghost movie was a very generic one, to be bluntly honest.

And apparently director and writer Daniele Grieco believed that having doors slam, and having camera periodically go out of focus, and have some really annoying and continuous loud banging sound qualify as being scary components for making the perfect ghost movie. However that was not the case, and it was annoying at best, but not scary!

This was low budget in every sense, but I will still say that they managed fair enough on that account. But from an entertainment point of view, then "Die Präsenz" failed to impress.

The acting in this low budget paranormal horror movie was adequate.

Don't be discouraged by the German language. Who knows, you might actually get some enjoyment from this movie.

While I saw a load of scathing reviews on my way into this, I made a point of not reading them. My expectations were suitably low, making a nice surprise possible (but let's be honest, unlikely).

I actually quite enjoyed it.

Sorry to those throwing rotten vegetables at this film, but for what it is, I felt it did the job reasonably well.

It's by no means perfect (or even 'really good') and I'm not going to ladle on the criticism because that'd be like shooting fish in a barrel, also, it's just mean.

What this film does possess, when compared to Blair Witch and the other found-footage franchises is the actual quantity of the paranormal activity (note the lower case letters). The supernatural entity in this is more active, vocal and just plain loud than those I've seen before. While this would make being there even more terrifying without a doubt, to the viewer I always feel that less is more.

With so much crashing and banging etc, with Becky scared out of her wits and the sleepwalking/nightmares that accompany it, that would be all the more reason to just jack it in and get the hell out of Dodge. "If you really loved me Markus, you'd save me from this hell..." (unfortunately not a direct quote from this)

The one piece of 'constructive criticism' I'd offer is that duringthe PA-esque nighttime infrared sleeping scenes, they build up tension reasonably well with noises and camera interference. Why then ruin it with sudden loud music and camera zoomery for a cheap jump? Less is more, young German padowan.

Food rotting from one moment to the next, while their back was turned was a nice little effect. Ditto with the ball disappearing then reappearing.

Rebecca really, really should have told Markus that she didn't like it and she was leaving. Now. With or without him. But no. She moans and is terrified but goes through with it, even though she claims to have felt that the entity wanted to do them harm. Sounds like my ex wife: passive/aggressive.

If you can't stand up when you need to and lay down the law, then I'm afraid that you're kinda asking for it.

Enough of my marriage councelling/pop psychiatry...

Insults/recriminations/threats etc inspired by my review of this please place below:

There is very little that is original or exciting in this film. It's a standard modern-day haunted house "found footage" style horror. Some of the spooks amount to silly jumpscares, some of them provoke laughter at how silly they are, and some are so incredibly subtle that you would never even notice if you weren't actively looking for something out of the ordinary.

The characters are fine. The setting is fine. There's a decent enough backstory to the old castle, and all of it is clear and evident and predictable. It still manages to be fun and oddly entertaining. It tries nothing new and gives nothing new, and by the first ten minutes or so, you're well aware of this and thus have the opportunity to bail out early on without wasting much of your time.

The only major complaint I would have is that every single instance of spooky jumpscare or ghosty activity is preceded by very loud and very noticeable on-screen static and video distortion. It makes an already predictable moment even more predictable.

About the only thing memorable for me is this film is German and I do not know German