Camera Obscura

For the life of me, I don't understand why Chiller continues to make movies. None of the films have been successful as horror movies, and I actively avoid movies that are made by the network. I rented this movie based on some glowing reviews, and I feel like I deserve to have my money returned to me, and the contents of this movie erased from my memory. It was just awful, boring and tame in the way Lifetime movies are. Nothing about it was scary, nothing about it was particularity well done, and the gore and blood that is shown is tame and limited. The acting was competent, I suppose, but it's unfortunate that the rest of the film is such a travesty. DO NOT PAY TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. This studio really needs to take the hint that their output is not doing anything to advance the horror genre in any meaningful way. SAD!

'CAMERA OBSCURA': Four Stars (Out of Five)

An indie horror flick about a veteran war photographer with PTSD, that sees future deaths in the photos that he takes (on a vintage World War II era camera). It was directed by first time feature filmmaker Aaron B. Koontz, and it was written by Koontz and Cameron Burns (Koontz and Burns also served as producers on the film). The movie stars Charlie Denham, Nadja Bobyleva, Catherine Curtin, Chase Williamson and Noah Segan. It's a very creepy and disturbing little indie horror flick.

Jack Zeller (Denham) is a professional photographer, and war veteran, who's dealing with some severe mental issues (due to his time in Afghanistan). To help him get through these mental problems, his fiancé, Claire (Bobyleva), buys him a vintage camera at a work auction. She then gets him a job taking photos for the real estate company she works for. When Jack gets the photos developed though, he starts to see images of future deaths in them. When those deaths start to become a reality, Jack becomes even more mentally unstable as he tries to figure out what to do about them.

The movie is extremely creepy, and it only gets creepier as it goes on. Denham gives a great performance in the lead, and he really makes you feel what it's like to go mad. You keep wanting the character to stop doing the things he's doing, as a result of his madness, but he keeps doing them anyway. It's a really disturbing and dark movie! Very effectively directed, and written, by Koontz and Burns. If you're a fan of really dark horror flicks, you should definitely give this one a try.

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Movie had a good premise and started off quite well but soon went down the toilet with its over the top gore, poor photography and confused story.

The music was actually not bad; very reminiscent of John Carpenter and in many places seemed out of place , the plot was confusing - was he actually a psycho and imagining everything which i presume was the end game there wasn't much explanation at the end and it seemed to end too soon. The over the top gore actually began to make it look like a comedy and we started laughing at points when we really shouldn't have!

Some poor acting and bizarre plot holes didn't help.

Overall it could have been good but ended up in the bargain bin bucket!

I saw the world premiere at the 2017 Florida Film Festival and was very impressed with the idea of the film - its presentation - and impact.

Jack Zeller, played very effectively by Christopher Denham, is a psychologically damaged photographer back from Afghanistan. He is evidently suffering from PTSA and is trying to get back to doing what he loves - professional photography. As an encouragement, his fiancé, Claire, buys him a vintage (WW II era) camera (naturally made in Germany.)

One chilling aspect of the camera is that a camera repair store announces that "this camera is not capable of taking photos."

Nevertheless, Jack gets a gig working for her real estate company and takes 10 rolls of film of various settings and properties with this "unworkable" camera. When the film is processed, there are surprising photos which I will not describe (you can imagine since this is a horror film.) How he reacts and tries to deal with these photos is the tension in the movie. The plot is different, well conceived and exciting.

The music and sound effects add measurably to the feel of the film and effect of the events being portrayed. Overall it is an excellent effort from first time director Aaron B. Koontz. I look forward to future efforts by Mr. Koontz. If you get the chance to take in "Camera Obscura," please do - very worthwhile.

The acting here is really quite poor, even Christopher Denham is far from the quality of his performance in Billions. The premise is quite fun in an obvious way, Photographer with PTSD, starts to unravel further when he finally musters the courage to start shooting again with an old camera that has as much baggage as he has, capturing things on film that may not be there... yet. It's really just a series of tropes, but despite its flaws it's oddly enjoyable and for all its predictability it does manage to raise the pulse, but there's no edge.

*Apologies for the poor title to this review, I needed a laugh after this.