Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I don't understand the hate for this movie. Does it try to do a little too much? Yes. But it certainly isn't boring, and in the round fotage sub genre that alone is worth something. Decent acting, solid story, better than I expected.

Deciding to hold a Found Footage (FF) day to kick off my viewing of the Paranormal Activity series,I started looking for a third FF title.Seeing Kim Newman give the flick a pretty good review,I was pleased to spot the movie in a local DVD shop,which led to paying a visit to the ranch.The plot:After getting reports of a child being abducted by aliens,the Modern Defense Enterprises (MDE) are sent to investigate.Placing cameras round the ranch,the MDE soon start gathering paranormal footage.As they try to figure out how to deal with the entity,the group discover that they are not the first gang from the MDE to have been sent to the ranch. View on the film:Working on what is likely a pretty tight budget,co-writers/(along with Murphy Michaels/Ken Bretschneider & Adam Ohler) directors Steve Berg and Devin McGinn do rather well at getting the most out of their special effects,with a blue "digital" tint giving the alien and paranormal animals a crisp, eerie glow. Settling down on the ranch,the writers gradually build up the supernatural horror,flying from something moving in the background,to a ruthless alien invasion. Locating the paranormal in a Found Footage format,the writers give everyone an intro to set their role in the investigation. Disappointingly,the writers use the intros to set an oddly calm mood which bolts down any chance of horrific tension invading,as the skinwalker walks on the ranch.

Is it a 'spoiler' to mention that a film is actually a 'found footage' film before you watch it? Personally, I'd say no. I think all 'found footage' films should come with a warning, mentioning that a film is 'found footage.' That way I can steer well clear. Sadly, for me, there was no warning and I ended up wasting an hour and a half of my time on this.I'm not a 'horror snob.' I actually really enjoyed The Blair Witch Project (and long before that Cannibal Holocaust, not to mention a very select few of more recent ones like REC). The 'found footage' genre CAN work. It's just 9/10 it doesn't. And it doesn't here. If you've seen one of the ten million horror B-movies made this way, i.e. filmed from the point of view of one of the characters all the way through with the other characters aware and reacting to the camera, then you've basically seen this. It's just typical of a found footage film. This time it's about aliens. But that doesn't matter. It could be about demons, witches or haunted houses – they're all exactly the same.The first half of the film, basically nothing happens. It's to do with 'character building.' Supposedly. Although it's probably less about introducing us to the characters' traits and more to do with filling the ninety minute runtime without having to pay for special effects or decent sets.Yes, the film has that credible 'documentary feel.' But that doesn't mean that it's either (a) scary (b) enjoyable or (c) memorable. All it is is yet another found footage film which you'll watch, not like and totally forget before wishing you hadn't wasted an hour and a half of your life on it.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Let me begin by saying that I love horror movies, even the cheap ones. I seriously admire low budget films as long as their ambitious and well written. This film on the other hand is none of that. The screenwriters had no clear sense of direction for this film. Its painfully obvious that whatever direction they initially had became tangled with too many ideas from other successful films similar to its genre. This film is basically a hodgepodge of the found footage genre mixed with aliens and the supernatural. Imagine trying to mix Paranormal Activity, the Blair Witch Project, and Signs to form a coherent narrative but failing in every aspect. The characters in this film were poorly written and completely one dimensional. You feel nothing for these characters when trouble started to brew. The suspenseful monuments were weak and the ending was extremely unsatisfying. Let me stress EXTREMELY UNSATISFYING. I truly feel as though I've wasted my life watching this movie. I would really love to know the story behind this film. How could a director mess up a found footage flick this bad. Please do yourself the favor and avoid this film like the plague.