Director: Ruben Rodriquez
Year: 2012
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After disappearing one day, a woman's friends and relatives recount her experiences of her after moving across the country for a new job beforehand and using a series of video diaries to enhance the experience of her slow descent into madness discovering the truth about the whole affair.
Review:
Generally, this was a pretty solid mockumentary with a lot to like about it. The idea of this one following along with the typical format where the first half gives us an introduction to her through her friends and family as well as the first video diaries that tell of nothing but exuberance and enthusiasm for the experience sets this off on a nice note. There's a great idea of the normality of her life trying to live on her own through the videos while the talking head interviews offer a similar pattern with the early experiences being discussed are fun and friendly while they slowly and gradually get darker as the videos chronicling her parallel this experience.
This leads to the rather fun supernatural antics that are brought up as a means of signaling her subsequent descent into madness. The first stages with the video evidence and investigation into the previous resident come off quite nicely with the early setup beforehand which makes this all rather freaky. Once it gets deeper into the mystery and it becomes far more psychologically damaging as the bizarre encounters and unexplained scenarios keep happening, there's a lot to like with the series of reveals that come about here during the freakouts and snapping going on with those around her that explains the behavioral issues here which gives this a lot to like.
There are some drawbacks to be had with the film. The main detriment to the film is the incredibly bizarre hot shotting it does to introduce the supernatural into the film as it seems to get introduced out of nowhere. With the first instances of something going wrong simply being her failing to respond to friends, the sudden introduction of the murder at the apartment and the investigation into the paranormal appear so soon afterward with little build-up or genuine motivation to investigate at this stage of the film feels quite undeserved. There's also the decided lack of urgency towards the glacial plot as this one plays out in a lethargic manner and could've gone much faster which are the issues with this one.
Overview: ***/5
A rather effective found-footage/mockumentary feature, this one comes off quite well with an engrossing mystery and a compelling layout to move this along over some minor detrimental factors. Those who appreciate the style or approach taken here will have a lot to like here while those who don't care for either of those features should heed caution with this one.
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