Bad Ben

I hate found footage films as a rule of thumb, and if I review them it's either because they really suck or because I actually didn't mind them. This film falls into the latter category.

I went into this film not knowing it was a solo film and a first venture, it was available on Prime and I was bored. I only found out the rest after, which made me extra impressed!

This film is simple, the effects are (generally, there is one that stands out rather negatively, you'll know it when you see it) are subtle and pretty well done. The reason for all of the cameras is pretty solid, and it's not one of those over the top "And then I was PINNED IN THE CEILING BY AN UNSEEN FORCE!" type of things. It's refreshing in it's simplicity.

While I wouldn't call it believable, the vast majority of this film feels more realistic than others of the genre and that's a nice touch. Although a bit more knowledge on the occult might have helped.

Not perfect, not very scary, but still much better than a lot of found footage films of late.

It's OK, far from great, but far from terrible. I've definitely seen worse... You know... Like the other two...

I should point out that I'm one of those rare breed of people that absolutely loves found footage films. But it's possible for them to be so awful, they're un watchable. Many of the recent ones I've seen have fallen in, or close to, that category but I was very happily surprised by this.

You can see that the one and only guy in the movie is an 'amateur', so to speak but he does a fine job of keeping you captivated throughout, simply by playing 'normal'.

The insistence of filming everything is questionable at times, particularly when some genuinely scary stuff starts going down, but I find people choosing to stick around once the scares go through the roof questionable in most films so can't complain too much here.

As somebody else said, the actor reminds me of that US comedian from the Big Bang Theory and Sarah Silverman Show and even sounds alike, adding to the comedy element of this movie.

I have a question though - what in %@*&'s name was Bad Ben at the end there?

Nigel Bach has done the impossible, to produce and star solo in the done to death found footage/haunted house genre and make itit rath enjoyable. As a genre, it won't do what it really should have done a few years ago and vanish, but, Bad Ben perhaps shows that there is still a little steam left in it. Bad Ben looks like it was made on a shoe string, and that is perhaps it's charm, Bach is incredibly likeable in the solo role, and has enough charisma to make the film rather enjoyable. Not bad at all. 6/10

OK, this guy is the only person in the movie, so you have to get used to him first. I found him kind of hard to sympathize with.

He comes off as a bit of a schlub (almost a dead ringer for actor/comedian Brian Posehn) who wants to document everything about this house he bought at auction as he's prepping it for sale. Right away, odd things start happening - furniture moving, things in the attic, things in the basement, etc.). At first, he attributes it to people breaking in, but he soon realizes there's something more going on as he looks into the family that lived there before and mysteriously left everything behind.

I thought the tension ratcheted up nicely and I was surprised that I got caught up as much as I did.