Atrocious (2010)

Overrated and overhyped

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

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I usually don't write reviews but I wanted to warn anyone that may be planning to watch this movie.A 5 in this type of movies is not that bad, so I decided to watch it, knowing it wasn't going to be great, but I was in for some cheap thrills.Truth is, this movie is terrible. The characters are annoying, the only thing they do is shout and freak out and shout, even about their everyday things. The main character is a scumbag...there I said it. It's impossible to empathize with any of these characters.But they are not the usual level of annoying (for this type of movie), they have take it to the next level. Apparently it was the debut for some of these kids and they needed to let all their emotions out.No need to mention that the story is bland. That's not so important I guess, since this movies are all about atmosphere and not really intricate plot twists.The worst part though, is the camera shakes. They tried to make it believable by adding twice the shake (and zoom) as in the usual found footage movies. I don't need to tell you that the results are the worst I have ever seen. It's hard (if not impossible) to know what's going on, at some point I thought this movie was going to give me a seizure.Conclusion: be warned, don't waste your time, this movie isn't worth 5 minutes of your time even if someone pays you to watch it.

At first I didn't really know if I should even watch it, since we have seen so many found footage movies already, and he only got 4.8 points here. But then a friend told me I have to watch this, and he was right! I have no idea why this movie got so few points (except perhaps because the end was such a let down), it has deserved more!!! This movie has a very thick atmosphere,especially SPOILERSPOILER all the parts done in this labyrinth are awesome. During the days you already get an eerie atmosphere, but during the night shots it is simply amazing !!! SPOILER END Another big plus for me is that at no point I asked myself why the hell are they still filming ??? SPOILERSPOILER Fernando Barreda Luna found a pretty clever solution for that, they needed the night view of their cameras to see something in the dark. They couldn't use their flashlights or who ever was after them could have easily found them. SPOILER END I must give it to him, that was a clever idea, and it fitted in really natural. You don't get the feeling OK, he had a clever idea here, no, it is just a part of the plot that I didn't even really realize during the movie. Only after it I suddenly thought "Hey, that was clever, since usually that's exactly the point where found footage films mess up" Usually EVERY found footage film has this weak point that you ask yourself why are they filming this, but he managed to find a good way to explain it, that felt in no way artificial or anything like that.I also really liked how he build up the suspension really slow but steady. Often you think that now something really bad will happen SPOILERSPOILER for example when the camera observes the dog at night, but nothing big happened,and yet you are left with a really unsettling feeling. SPOILER END Towards the end the suspension is so tight it is almost unbearableSPOILER for example when he is sitting on his bed after he fled to his room and barricades himself in. That scene is pure genius, you wait and wait that the axe is coming through that door, and the suspension was already near the limit before already,and then he just sits there. NOTHING happens for well over 2mins, yet this is one of the most unnerving scenes in the whole movie ! That one scene really shows the quality of Fernando Barreda Luna. In those 2 minutes your head is spinning like a roller-coaster, despite the fact nothing happens. This is so hard to do, but he pulls if of like a boss ! RESPECT !!!Now so far the movie was an absolutely brilliantly done film, but as soon as that door opens he suddenly messes up completely !!! It starts with the first time that he is filming where I thought why the hell is he filming this. So far the filming was always a logical part of the plot, and now this,and it is only downhill from now on ! This sudden introduction of a new character, the crazy axe killer, feels completely artificial, like he had some footage left from another movie and needed a few more minutes of film, so he used what he had lying around ^^You also get the feeling he had no idea how to end the movie,and suddenly they started shooting and he had to come up with something in a hurry. I mean the introduction of that crazy chick at the end could have been a good idea, if the film would have been at least 20 minutes longer, so he has time to really tell her story, but like this ? You also don't get to see how the 2 older siblings end. etc.etc. it is all just a big mess in the end SPOILER END

Despite the mostly negative reviews, Atrocious is actually not thát bad. I enjoyed it more than I expected, maybe because my expectations were low. The good: The setting was pretty good, I loved the house and the labyrinth (sigh, I wish I lived in such a place) and though it started out a bit dull and has it's predictable bits, there are a few enjoyable creepy moments. I was pretty happy to see that the end was not what I expected, and better than what I did expect. An other good thing is the brutality shown through the police photo's. You don't see anything really happen, but at the end the police files combined with the basement video make up for that and fill in the hole your imagination was still left with. The bad: It's not a movie to watch when you suffer from motion sickness. I do have a sensitive stomach for movements and I thought it was only just bearable. That's one of the weaknesses of many 'Found Footage' movies, the shaky camera-work is just too much overdone. OK, when you are running you won't ever have a steady shot, but in the beginning of the movie one would expect at least a bit more of a steady hand. So that was actually pretty annoying. An other bad is that some bits are just too long, without anything happening, which makes you want to reach for the fast-forward button. There was too much darkness, and too much running through the night (yep, darkness, and night vision which shows nothing but trees). One last bad thing is the subtitling. I am not sure if I just had a bad version, but my, did it suck. All Spanish cursing was translated as 'drugs' which gives you a fair idea of the skills of the people who did the subbing. I'm a bit left in the dark (pardon me the bad pun) when it comes to rating this movie. It has a lot of flaws, but the ending does make up for it, and I have seen worse Found Footage movies (like Paranormal Activity). Anyway, my advise would be to set your expectations low, and then you might even enjoy it like I did.

Despite that it treads very familiar territory and doesn't really bring anything that fresh to the found footage genre it still remains as formidable than ever. The film starts off pretty much like The Blair Witch Project introducing us to ordinary people who are documenting their research on figuring out an old legend but soon get attacked by an unknown force or being and things turn from normal to terrifying. This film is uber creepy with an fantastic atmospheric setting that will send chills to your bones and intense suspense that will have you grabbing you seat as well as believable performances from the likable leads that makes the whole ordeal that more effective and downright disturbing. It was scary but doesn't have a lot of nonstop jolts like the Paranormal Activity series but the intensity is their and the fear of the unknown and the big reveal at the end was clever and shocking and gave it an even more sinister tone that will get under your skin but still expected something bigger and different but liked the direction it took which was a different change of pace. The violence in this film though basically off screen is brutal and twisted once revealed after the fact and is the things of nightmares. Overall I wouldn't say it's with the top dogs of the found footage genre but I liked it a little bit more than the very disappointing Paranormal Activity 3 and I liked the direction it took more and this one was just more unsettling and better executed and a more disturbing story. Worth a look just don't expect something with tons of jump scares just more shock value. 6.3 out of 10