Director: Jennifer Reeder
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Living by himself in an apartment, a lonely recluse trying to be an online content creator comes to believe that his apartment may be haunted by a malicious spirit and seeks answers to his problem, eventually stumbling upon someone with far more malicious intent than he anticipated.
Review:
Overall, this was a decent enough if somewhat flawed effort. What this one gets right is centered around the early setup of the weirdness happening in the apartment which is usually rather enjoyable and sometimes downright chilling. The setup with his reclusive attitude towards being shut off from the rest of the world and going through the filming of the various videos gives this a solid start once they spot the strange incident on the video involving the falling animal he's not initially aware of. The continuation of the shoots resulting in the footage that showcases the demonic figures appearing suddenly in bright, multicolored flashes or just out of view behind him manages to set the stage for a frenetic and highly chilling finale that's quite impressively realized for the scale of the film. It's what holds this one up the most.
There are some issues with this one though. The main factor to hold this one back is the highly uninvolved storyline that takes far longer to get going than it really should for something this short. The early stages that showcase his burgeoning online creator work, making numerous videos in different styles, discussing everything with his friend, or checking in on the woman and her boyfriend he knows all give this a lethargic starting point to get to the fun stuff later on. That very little of this is in the slightest bit interesting comes off as highly detaching with no real entry point into this universe to get to know who he is, why he's living in the condition he is or why he's going through which doesn't come to pass until far later than wanted in the film which makes this a rather tough start.
As well, there's also the fact that the films' setup and limitations are hampered quite profoundly by its budgetary limitations. The topical influences that adorn how this was shot and filmed are readily apparent with every form of interaction taking place over video chat with no one else ever physically interacting with him, being far more obvious once this goes along. As well, that also takes into account the other big problem here is that because it's shot in this manner it can't undergo any kind of extravagant effects-work which leaves this one to rely on the use of those flash-cut scenes of demons appearing or strange noises which is quite familiar and underwhelming due to being so overused in the style. These features all bring this one down overall.
Overview: **/5
A fine if problematic supernatural effort that’s quite fun for what it is, there are some issues here that bring it down and leave this one just a middle-of-the-road affair. It’ll appeal to those that like this kind of mainstream genre effort or aren’t too bothered by these flaws, while most others will be let down by this one and should heed caution.
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