As most of you know who read me regularly I am not a fan of
“found footage” films. The reason is that the majority of them are made this
way for two reasons: because it’s cheap or because the film maker is lazy.
While it was a novel idea when this genre first began it’s become so overused
as to make a film like this unwatchable. On occasion a good one slips in but
it’s rare. This movie is one of those.
Five friends go off to a remote woods to spend the night and
to play a game. They head to a preserve that is supposed to be haunted and
regularly attracts young people who choose the location to commit suicide. A
friend of one of the girls going there for her first time recently did just
that. But the group goes anyway with the intention of playing a game they do on
a normal basis.
The game is called nightlight and consist of one person
being blindfolded while the rest head off to hide. After counting so long that
person goes off to find the others. It’s an old game with a new twist in that
everyone has their own flashlight or something to use as one. Our heroine uses
a cell phone with a light on it while at the same time apparently recording
everything that’s going on as well. The most amazing things about that is that
the phone never seems to lose a charge. I’d love to know what model it is so I
can get one like it next time I upgrade mine.
As the night progresses strange things begin to happen. One
of the girls goes missing to be found later on in a trance like state having no
clue where she’s been or the passage of time since she first went out of it.
Various members of the teens disappear only to show up later. All of them end
up terrified that they’ll never find their way back to their car or survive the
night alive. With good reason too as there are times the cell phone camera
picks up on images of demon like creatures slightly off camera of out of focus
making their way among the group when someone hits that trance stage.
The movie offers a few suspenseful moments and has an ending
that I thought worked quite well. But as I started out here, the found footage
aspect of it doesn’t hurt but doesn’t help either. While the movie can be
interesting at times and by the end has held our interest, it also doesn’t make
you want to watch it over and over again or make sure that your friends don’t
miss it. The jump scares featured here feel predictable rather than surprising.
The jerk characters seem readily apparent. A few plot twists are nice and make
the movie worth watching in the end.
While not the greatest thing since sliced bread the movie is
an entertaining film that will more than likely hold your interests throughout.
While it’s not the greatest horror film ever made it is far from the worst. It
makes a good night’s rental but not one to add to the collection.
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