Interior (2014)

the audience applauded

Absolutely brilliant

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Guy alone in a house that he is "Ghost Hunting" in for a former girlfriend and her husband and child. Great use of modern tech. Good moments, dumb moments and an ending that is truly incomprehensible.I would have to say that the biggest problem with this movie, besides the INCREDIBLY over-long "circle vision" segment and the WTF ending is verisimilitude. Even fantasy needs a base of reality and verisimilitude.Give it a shot if you've got 90 some minutes to kill... otherwise... pass.

INTERIOR is an extremely modest indie horror film that somehow consists of a single guy hanging out in his apartment for the entire running time. He has occasional, mundane conversations with friends and associates and then spends the rest of the time sitting around on his sofa. The horror content is so limited as to be unrecognisable.

I am not a huge fan of horror films but I can say that Interior is clearly a very scary film. There are many, many moments in the film where I felt myself on edge...something that rarely happens to me when I see a horror movie. Despite a rough spot near the end, overall it's worth seeing.The film is set in a modern American home in suburbia. Sam is a struggling filmmaker who needs work. So when his old ex-girlfriend, Allison, offers him a chance to make money he jumps at it. She insists that her house is haunted and wants Sam to stay the night and document any weird happenings in the place. Sam naturally believes this is ridiculous but he needs the money and seems a bit infatuated with Allison despite her now being a married woman with a young daughter.Almost the entire film consists of Sam being alone in the house. At first, not surprisingly, not much happens and the director, Zachary Beckler, does a good job in allowing the tension and suspense to slowly build. Even when things do begin to happen, they are rather unimpressive...such as drawers which seem to have opened themselves or knives that have inexplicably fallen onto the kitchen floor. The don't seem to faze Sam. What happens next, however, scares the ever-living crap out of him...as well as the audience!Despite the film being very scary, one portion near the end didn't work for me. Following the film, the director was in the theater for a question and answer session and he said some of his inspiration came from Kubrick's "2001". Well, this portion near the end was highly reminiscent of "2001"...but that didn't mean it made much sense nor did I like it. It was way too artsy and strange...and I wish he'd instead chosen to stick with the prevailing mood of the film...a mood which will scare the crap out of you! Despite this, I still recommend you see the movie since it is, on balance, very well made. Plus, Beckler is young and I don't expect perfection from a guy with limited experience in filmwork. Considering this, making a full-length film like this...and keeping the audience's attention is a major achievement.

I believe that it is more difficult to make a good horror movie than other genres. Zach Beckler's "Interior" is an outstanding first film for the young filmmaker. He takes a simple story: One man - one night - one haunted house - and makes it new and fresh by infusing it with technology and technology driven humor. The basic plot is pretty standard - let's film a ghost in a modern haunted house. But the sounds and scares are excellent as the isolated filmmaker who is going to capture the "ghost" moves from skepticism to outright terror as the movie ramps up the scares.Most effective was the use of multiple cameras filming the various rooms. This is not your typical "Paranormal Activity" use of cameras and film (talk about stale, that series should have stopped three movies ago). Beckler uses cameras to great advantage as ofttimes Sam (Christopher Carullo) is too frightened to even look in the next room - so he sticks the camera around the corner and snaps off a bunch of photos. The resulting photos are usually very unsettling and unusual.The videos of Sam as he investigates the disturbances in the house are very disquieting as well.The main actor, Christopher Carullo, does an excellent job as the filmmaker trapped in the house. He conveys a sense of tension that I have not seen since "High Tension" - one of my all time favorites.My only concern was an overly long "black hole" sequence at the end. Not sure what was being portrayed - or why it seemed to go on forever (I was never a great fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey), but this is Beckler's first film, so no big criticism here.Interestingly Beckler has also made a short which accompanies the full length feature called "Where is Alice?" - which is excellent and very artfully builds suspense and thinly disguises terror. You really should see both of them.So I say "great first effort" to Zack Beckler. Unfortunately I do not know where to tell you to go to see these films - but if you can find them they are worth watching.