(archived reviews can be found on Facebook by searching Through A Glass Snarkly)

thinking right in the shitter.

Despite the score, this is just a limp and somewhat lame addition to the found-footage genre, that neither surprises, intrigues, or even scares. One to avoid.

#DONTTRUSTROTTENTOMATOES
#SNARKLYDIDSOYOUDONTHAVETO

We’ve developed a kind of rule about Rotten Tomato scores while watching all these horror films over the last 6(ish) years: any score over 90% is a red flag, any score under 60% is the same, and the sweet spot is 75-85%; however, the fact that this film, bizarrely, has a score of 75% throws that...

seeing and that these are real people experiencing it; never is this achieved here.

And when something finally (kinda) happens, it deeply underwhelming and really pretty poorly done, all of which eventually leads to the dénouement that’s been telegraphed from an age ago and then it’s over...

dimensional characters: surly shaven-headed Aaron, wine-fan, walks with a stick Lena, and light-fingered dickhead, Kevin; none of which is endearing or even interesting.

And it’s the dialogue that is all important in a found-footage film, a naturalness essential to making us believe what we’re...

of child murder in Quebec, Canada…

The first thing to say here is that there’s nothing at all wrong with the basic set up here, it’s the execution however that leaves a lot to be desired.

Far too much of the film is made up of aimless and somewhat unconvincing banter between the three 2...

of a film whose disparate tonal shifts each serve to pull the thing in opposite directions, and then to pull them apart, thus stopping any of it from working.

#SNARKLYDIDSOYOUDONTHAVETO

(archived reviews can be found on Facebook by searching Through A Glass Snarkly)

perfectly proficiently made, and the acting fine, but the patchwork muddle of the script pits one jarring narrative element against another against another, until its simply impossible buy into or care about any of it, and all you’re left with as the credits roll is a confusion of a shambles...

hoping that something sticks only leaves us with an unmitigated mess.

And then, once the big switcheroo / reveal comes, trying to fashion a hard-hitting dénouement from this unsatisfying mishmash feels nothing short of cack-handed and borderline insulting to the viewer.

It’s technically...

spiral into a full-blown nightmare…

Fairly early on this becomes tonally very inconsistent, veering wildly between horror, comedy (that never entirely lands), and small-town drama. Wrong-footing the audience is no bad thing but simply throwing at least three different films at the screen and...

budget affair that does a great deal with very little.

So, not perfect by any means, but if you’re willing to overlook its shortcomings, there is much that is as inventive as it is effective.

(archived reviews can be found on Facebook by searching Through A Glass Snarkly)

some pacing issues though, a tad too much repetition before things get going, and perhaps too much is telegraphed a little too early, thus robbing the reveal of some surprise, and it’s true it betrays its threadbare nature here and there, but ultimately, it’s an impressive and admirable low...

doubt executed on a shoestring, and yet they’re sold well and gel with the film’s bad-dream aesthetic, as things gradually devolve into hallucinogenic nightmare. There are even a few narrative techniques borrowed from Lynch which ably play with reality and time to further disconcert.

There are...

there…

An ingenious low-budget affair, this was, as I understand, shot mostly during lockdown, and does a great deal with very little, making the most of its stunning locations and spinning an intriguing and disconcerting little tale.

There are some nifty and bizarre visual moments that were no...