Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story (2015) User Reviews

Yet Another Found Film Footage With Nothing New

[NotAnotherMovieCritic · 4/10 · 7 August 2015]

The title of the review speaks for itself.

At this point the Found Film Footage genre is getting tired and old, only because these writers and directors aren't giving us anything we haven't seen already. They think that with the same scares, same annoying actors and same shaky camera with a whole new entity or monster will be a good idea. Wrong.

There was nothing interesting about this film, except they thought it was a good idea. The special effects seem cheesy, but something tells me that's what they were going for, but it didn't work even if that were the case. Once again the characters were unlikable and that seems to be a recurring theme since The Blair Witch Project.

You would think that a movie based upon the most popular creepypasta, Slenderman, would be a good thing. Unfortunately, you would be wrong.

The film seems it would be good to those of a younger age, which this film is not targeted with, with it's R rating. The film could have easily been a PG-13. It might be good for a watch if your high, but I wouldn't recommend it regardless.

Nothing new here

[torroutedipz · 4/10 · 10 July 2018]

So I ran across two movies that seemed pretty similar; this and The Levenger Tapes. They're both found footage and I decided to go with this one first, after reading some reviews and seeing this also had a YouTube series, I figured it would be the better of the two. After watching them both, I highly recommend the Levenger Tapes over this. I found this pretty boring and started falling asleep at the end. This just didn't add anything new to the found footage genre. The whole "evil entity only visible through a camera" has already been done, so nothing exciting here. There's not really anything in particular that makes the movie awful, but nothing makes it entertaining either. Just overall boring with a played out premise.

An average found footage movie that series fans will be all the more disappointed by.

[CameronCashman · 4/10 · 8 April 2015]

I'm a huge fan of the Marble Hornets YouTube series. A little background for those who might not be familiar with it: Marble Hornets is a project by a group of film school friends, collectively known as THAC (Troy Has a Camera), that chronicles the disappearance of Alex Kralie and his friend Jay's attempt to find him. They are pursued by the Slenderman-like entity known as The Operator.

This film, Always Watching, was not made by the THAC team but rather by a writer and director who have previous credits in more recent, mainstream horror. It does supposedly take place in the same world as the MH series.

Anyone who isn't familiar with the series might like this film a lot more than I did. You certainly don't have to be to watch the movie, it stands on it's own. But even then you might be rolling your eyes at the same found-footage clichés the film falls back on.

If you've seen other FF movies, aside from a few unique spins here and there, you've seen it all before. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it's not terribly bad either. It really just reeks of mediocrity. The film follows a group of reporters who are doing a story on house foreclosure. When they stumble upon a box of tapes in a mysteriously furnished but abandoned house, they discover that the family had been stalked and tormented by The Operator, played by the famous Doug Jones.

I'm absolutely mystified as to why Jones was involved in this project, because the director absolutely wasted his talent. I consider Doug a king in horror, he's an amazing creature actor that totally could have killed it as The Operator, but the director just decides to reduce him to standing and teleporting, and an occasional flick of the wrist. Doug does a great job with what he's given, but seeing how he's a perfect fit for a Slenderman character, I'm almost angry they didn't use him more. Wasted potential.

The other actors actually do very well considering this isn't a huge-budget Hollywood flick. Their characters, however, aren't as compelling. The writer definitely tried to give them some emotion and character, and it shows, but ultimately it never really goes anywhere and you're just waiting around for them to die. Seeing as the Marble Hornets series characters are fantastically written, I would expect more.

The movie isn't terribly scary. It has some tense moments, a few good jump scares, but it really loses it's steam about halfway through when it starts getting boring and repetitive.

Fans of the series will be thoroughly disappointed with the general direction of the movie. I'm not sure if the director and writer were fans of the show before they made the movie, one would assume and hope, but they really miss the mark and fail to see what makes the series so special. The film was focused too much on action and scares and not about building atmosphere and a good mystery. It's a 90 minute movie, so I understand not having too much time to do that, but they could have made an effort considering it's supposed to be tied to the series.

The biggest mistake they made was The Operator itself. They simply made too many changes from the series to how it acts. In the series, The Operator's motives and goals remain incredibly unclear. It never seems to want to kill or harm the characters, but rather torment them and drive them insane. It's never really implied that any of the characters are under control of the Operator at any point in the series. In the movie, however, it's made incredibly clear that all The Operator wants to do is possess and kill the characters after "marking" them. (Which is another pointless and stupid addition to the mythos, separating it further from the series. Why add that in? There was never any branding of the (x) symbol in the series.) Why he made these changes to the mythos mystifies me, because this is supposedly set in the same universe as the series. Watching it alongside the series, however, would be difficult due to the large amount of differences in how The Operator acts.

To me, it seems like the writer or director wanted to make a Slenderman fan film, but wanted it to gain a little more attention and traction, so he got THAC (they were supposedly consulted) and Doug involved but then went off on his own and did his own thing. I think MH deserves a bit better from a feature length "Hollywood" film.

The only redeeming parts to fans of the series will be the callouts to it. There are two distinct references to Marble Hornets that fans will be grinning at, these saved the movie from being a complete disaster to me.

From a found footage standpoint, this isn't the worst I've ever seen. It follows most of the same conventions of every other small- budget FF movie. But fans of the series will be sorely let down.

Slendy' "The Operator" got down-sized. :P

[Cyborganna · 2/10 · 2 September 2015]

I give this Film a 2, just because I'm a massive fan of the 'Mable Hornets' web series ~ So it gets the first point for that alone, and, I give the extra point for Doug Jones' involvement with it (He's one of Hollywood's most underrated Stars, IMO). But that's it.

This Movie bears none of the originality, nor sinister foreboding contained within the outstanding 'Marble Hornets' web series. It's just very standard, bland, mediocre horror fare, that focuses way too much on God-awful jump scares, and not enough on creating actual paranoia based fear and eerie tension like the brilliant 'Marble Hornets' series did by the Fleet-load.

And our Slender Man/Operator has been shrunk down to the size of a regular Guy, who looks like He's had a hankie thrown over His face, who's only shown in pathetic static little blips. What a waste of the aforementioned awesome Doug Jones. You'd think that a Feature-length Movie featuring 'Slender Man'/'The Operator' would create a much more substantial monster than the one delivered here.

When a 0 budget monster, in a web series, is infinitely more terrifying than the one served up in a Movie ~ You know that Movie has failed on all fronts.

Go marathon 'Marble Hornets' right from the 'Introduction' video, and see how this sh*t is meant to be done! (Best viewed at Night, curtains open, with very hot black Coffee)

Unlikable Characters, Terrible Story

[timothygartin · 1/10 · 26 April 2020]

This is what is scary about this movie: its 90 minutes of annoying people screaming at each other. Every two minutes is a jump scare. This story is terrible. Slenderman has nothing to do at all in this movie. He just stands around. He isn't even most of the jump scares.

It isn't often you have so many lead characters that have nothing about them that you like.

Skips this one. It's too late for me. Save yourself.

Put a Cloth Over Your Head

[westsideschl · 2/10 · 7 August 2015]

Positives: Fast forwarding. Negatives: 1. Opening credits Anchor Bay distributors, known for cheap. 2. More shaky camera - I thought that technique had run its course and died years ago. 3. Journalist investigates foreclosed or abandoned homes to show what people leave behind. Boring except of course there's one house that the inhabitants seem to have vanished. Well, that plot has been done many times. And, to borrow further there is the customary box of video tapes that our journalist (and, of course, tag-along camera man) get to investigate for clues. At least that goes a small way toward explaining why there's a camera following everyone around. 4. Now for the supposedly scary part - there are a few times (mostly toward the end of course) of three or so seconds (much longer and you'll break out laughing) where some guy with a piece of cloth over his head (see photo) stands in the background. That's it. Well, someone dies (gee, who would have guessed) but it's a pretty nondescript death. 5. End of story. Not scary unless you're six. Recent alternative, if looking for someone dying, is "Faults" - a bit more intelligent.

Nothing New, But Not Terrible

[Necroambulant · 7/10 · 15 May 2015]

Always Watching is another addition to the preponderance of found footage movies within the horror genre. I was getting tired of this gimmick a good number of years ago, but it obviously isn't going anywhere...and when it works it actually does end up leading to some worthwhile movies. This one is a bit of a loose take on the internet-created Slenderman trope, arguably the first entirely crowd sourced urban legend. The antagonist is referred to as The Operator rather than Slenderman, though the parallels are transparent. In this movie the antagonist only shows up on camera and a news crew working on a story about a family that disappeared happens across home videos that they are scouring for any information regarding the disappearance. The cameraman begins experiencing some encounters that have him (and his coworkers) questioning his sanity and he begins taking his video camera with him everywhere he goes. Though the human naked eye doesn't seem to he capable of seeing The Operator, the camera man's dog seems to see it just fine. I won't bother with drawing any correlations between this movie and the Marble Hornets' short films, because there isn't really a whole hell of a lot that actually connects them beyond the use of the name The Operator in place of Slenderman. There isn't anything new or really inspired in this movie to set it apart from other found footage titles, though it does have some good tense moments and a few decent jump scares. If you're looking for a creepier, more unnerving Slenderman experience, I would recommend playing the video game Slender: The Arrival, which has both a better atmosphere and more effective jump scares (in addition to being interactive, which is quite a bit more immersive). The movie isn't horrible, and the acting is pretty good for the sort of low budget found footage movie it is...so it isn't a waste of time to watch. But if you are looking for something that might be actually scary or really interesting I would recommend waiting for the upcoming CreepyPasta movie directed by Clive Barker. I suspect that his treatment of the Slenderman story will be be far superior.

Youtube series is way better

[j-nickturner · 3/10 · 8 April 2020]

I'm a pretty big fan of the "Marble Hornets" YouTube series. Gotta say though, this was a pretty big letdown.

None of the personality, intrigue, or clever storytelling of the original series makes it into the movie.

Average at best. But considering how strong the OG stuff was, this is a pile of crap.

The best slenderman movie?

[dylanstaxes · 7/10 · 24 August 2021]

This is definitely watchable. It has some decent scares. The third act is good, which is quite rare with micro budget horrors. The side stories aren't overdone and annoying. The three actors are ok. The camera isn't shaky. And it's a slenderman movie that won't make your ears bleed from stupidity.

DON'T REVIEW FOUND FOOTAGE MOVIES IF YOU HATE ALL FOUND FOOTAGE MOVIES.

Calling it a "Marble Hornets Story" is an outright lie

[zorrodg-316-238330 · 3/10 · 29 November 2021]

First off, Alex didn't leave the tapes on the camera he filmed Marble Hornets on. He gave Jay all of the tapes. So no, the ending of this movie does not tie into the series in any tangible way.

Past that, this movie just does not read as Marble Hornets at all. The Operator now fully possesses people and forces them to kill, something he never did in the series? The famous symbol is now a brand to mark his victims? No totheArk, no Hoodie/Masky, no mention of Jay or Tim?

The most concrete tie in to the OG is a split second shot of a missing persons poster for Alex Krailie, and that's it. Nothing else.

This all might be forgivable if the movie was any good but aside from one or two MILD shocks, it's paint by numbers found footage with zero personality. Maybe it's too much to ask that a movie based on a web series has any connection to the series, but if you're going to make a Marble Hornets movie...maybe make an actual Marble Hornets movie? Not some knockoff?

Ugh. MH deserved better.

Made me jump a few times

[laceydelrae · 8/10 · 12 December 2016]

I want to start off by saying I watch a TON of horror movies, a new horror movie each night. I also never watched the "Marble Hornet" series on YouTube therefore I thought this movie was a lot of fun to watch. I never get scared in horror movies but this movie did make me jump a few times, which is rare these days (possibly watching this late at night helped as well). The director has produced a lot of other great horror movies so he knows what he's doing. The director also said this movie was in reference to slender man, I thought the idea was new and fresh. There aren't many slender man movies. As far as the first person shooting I thought it was well done. I don't think this movie deserves so many bad reviews. If you like horror movies and you're looking for a good movie to sit back and watch I really recommend this one.

Very Tense, Very Tight, and Very Entertaining

[dcarsonhagy · 7/10 · 20 July 2015]

First of all to the moron who wants to spell stupid (s-t-o-o-p-i-d), get a life (or dictionary). Don't whine to people in your review about (sic) stoopid editing and then--for whatever reason--turn around and misspell the word. But I digress.

I found "Always Watching" on On-Demand. Since it didn't cost an arm and a leg (only $3.99), I thought I'd give it a try. As it began, it tended to drag just a little bit, and the viewer may think "here we go again" with the found footage premise, which has just about been beaten to death along with that proverbial horse.

It seems a family has mysteriously disappeared and, rumour has it, they were driven away by a mysterious man soon to be known as "The Watcher." Trouble is, it seems this man only turns up on camera. Three journalists are given the task of going through many reels of film trying to find some connection and, viola, they find...something.

As stated before, the found-footage genre is about as overdone as the Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Saw series. This one, which I think pays homage to "Sinister," is a cut above most. I thought the editing was what sold the picture for me. Again, this movie proves you don't have to have a screen awash with blood to scare people. In fact, I don't really know why this is rated R. It could have easily been PG- 13. Angus Scrimm (of "Phantasam" fame) make a brief appearance as a mentally disturbed patient.

I thought "Always Watching" would make for a fun viewing for a sleep- over for ages 12 and up. Rated "R" for language. It's what you don't see that scares you. Recommended.

Horrid acting. Idiot characters.

[frankblack-79961 · 3/10 · 12 June 2021]

Thus film just failed on all levels. Had some creepy scenes but they failed with me because i was so annoyed by the stupid characters and how they reacted to situations. Wasted my time thats for sure.

AN INSULT TO MARBLE HORNETS

[kahowe-10568 · 1/10 · 30 September 2020]

THIS AN INSULT TO MARBLE HORNETS WEB SERIES. DO NOT WATCH JUST WATCH THE OG MARBLE HORNETS ON YOUTUBE.

Not a terrible way to spend an hour and a half...

[dazednconfuuzed8 · 5/10 · 19 April 2015]

I'll mention first that while I've heard of the Marble Hornets series, I went into this film with only a small notion of the slenderman mythos, as I've never watched any of the Marble Hornets videos. So this movie will be rated and reviewed as a standalone, from someone with no background in Marble Hornets.

"Always Watching" certainly didn't redefine the FF genre, although it at least had an excellent built-in explanation as to why the cameras continue to role even once things get bad. The editing, especially for the first 30 mins of the movie is pretty bad, as another person noted. That improved quite a bit in the second half of the movie IMO. I recognized all the leads, from one show or another, and they did well, though their characters weren't really fleshed out, and some of the dialogue was kinda lame. The premise was good, but the payoff wasn't really there. I see what they tried to do, they just didn't stick the landing..

Is this movie scary? Not really. You pretty much spend almost all of the movie looking the for the guy to show up lol. Maybe I missed him in a cpl scenes, but I thought he was kinda under-used... So much creep factor there, why not use it? But I was, admittedly, quite engaged with the movie throughout, and it gave my nerves a lil jolt from time to time.

I wish they had gotten more into why this stuff was going on, how it was going on, etc. All and all, I wouldn't pay much money to see it, I'm sure it will land on Netflix eventually. But if you like FF, or slenderman stuff, you may enjoy it.

I always feel like somebody's You Tubing me!

[Coventry · 3/10 · 27 November 2015]

Apparently "Marble Hornets" the long-feature film is based on a series that can only be seen on You Tube. Personally I didn't know this series existed… No wait, let me rephrase that, personally I didn't even know there existed series that can only be seen on You Tube! Anyways, the series revolves on a fictional character referred to as Slender Man – although for legal reasons here re-baptized into 'The Operator' – who is a type of boogeyman-for-the-cyber-generation and appears in sinister internet videos rather than underneath your bed. The bad news, however, is that "Marble Hornets" is also one of those dreadful Found-Footage horror movies, which means that the hand-held camera-work is horrendous (and, no, it's not adding any atmosphere or suspense), the characters are underdeveloped and over- the-top hysterical most of the time and that the film ends suddenly and abrupt without any type of proper explanation. Sara and Milo are a not-so professional duo of news reporters, sharing a brief but uncomfortably awkward love history, are following around a team of evictors for a human-interest documentary. They enter a rather nice and well-decorated middle-class family house where the residents cleared rushed out of unforeseen and in a hurry. They stumble upon a pile of family videos and discover that the father became gradually paranoid – and righteously so – because he always spotted a sinister figure observing his family from a distance. This perpetrator can only be seen through the lens of a camera and pretty soon he's also stalking Sara, Milo and their obnoxious supervisor Charlie. If you disregard the connection with the Internet series, "Marble Hornets: The Operator" is an incredibly mundane and forgettable movie. The only remotely interesting added value in the script is the unhealthy relationship between the lead protagonists. For example, Sara and Charlie learn about the existence of The Operator when they stumble upon Milo's private videos in which he's stalking Sara. Both the appearance and the background story of The Operator aren't very interesting or scary, and he honestly doesn't do a whole lot apart from discretely standing in the background. If there ever was a movie that is suitable for Found-Footage fanatics only, it must be this one.

How a Marble Hornets movie should be

[Fauxbot · 7/10 · 18 June 2015]

Alright. Is this a perfect adaptation of the web series? No, not exactly. There's a lot changed, none of the original characters are present, and some of the lore of The Operator has been changed and warped to fit the story of the film.

And that is completely fine.

Marble Hornets the Web Series, for those who are not aware of it, is a horror/thriller series that spans the length of roughly five years. That's a lot of content, and, if everything were followed to the letter, would be hard to translate into a full length movie. A lot of it would be condensed or even completely removed, which as we all know, does. not. work. (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Percy Jackson, etc.)

So, the filmmakers took a bold step and just... wrote their own thing. But it works. Yes, they changed the lore of what the symbol means. Yes, they changed how the operator works. But it all works in favor of the story that is being told.

It's well acted, well shot, and the editing is pretty decent. It's something I've gone back and watched, more than once, and I find little things every time. I would highly recommend it.

Warning. Movie filmed in first person video camera mode.

[gbobxx · 1/10 · 22 August 2015]

First thing about this movie that was a huge turnoff was the first person camcorder view. Who came up with this lame way of filming a movie? Who in real life walks around with a video recorder? I think a warning should be printed on the box stating that the entire movie is filmed using a video recorder. For those like myself can save the 4 dollars to rent this garbage. If I knew the movie was filmed this way I never would have rented it. Boring story over all. Terrible acting. Nothing about this movie made me want to suggest others see it. I couldn't wait for it to end. Only thing scary was how movie was filmed and the acting.

Pleasantly Surprised

[jacewhite-237-481498 · 6/10 · 27 July 2018]

Not familiar with the Marble Hornets web series, I took a chance on "Always Watching," not particularly expecting much. It's my personal opinion that probably 80 of horror flicks are just plain bad, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one, as the story is good, the acting commendable and directing very adept.

My main beef was that, like so many horror movies, the characters have this "we can't go to the cops, they'll never believe us" mentality. This is sorta explained away when one of the earlier victims went to law enforcement and was pretty much laughed out of the police station with his story. However, later in the movie, the three main characters have plenty of video evidence and still didn't seek help from the authorities. I think that if they had, the story still could've proceeded just fine, and the entire premise would've been more believable.

I'm more than willing to find more movies by this director

Never Watching: Not a Marble Hornets Story

[fleetstreet · 5/10 · 10 August 2017]

Did the creators of this movie just go, "We'll get permission to do a 'spinoff' of Marble Hornets, loosely 'borrow' their Slenderman-type villain's name and symbol, make a couple blink-and-you'll-miss-them references to the web series... and that way, we won't get too much crap for trying to make our own Slenderman found-footage move."

Because that plan totally backfired. This is not a Marble Hornets story. They totally screwed up how the Operator works, and with the exception of one tiny reference to the Alex Kralie character, this movie has nothing to do with Marble Hornets canon.

What would've been better is if they'd gotten Joe and Tim to write an actual Marble Hornets movie, and still kept Doug Jones as the Operator.

Way too scary!!!!

[LiamBlackburn · 8/10 · 21 April 2015]

Oh No....There's a guy in the camera, and he keeps popping in and out of view. He is like a poltergeist who haunts video cameras. Then he leaves these cult marks on people's skin to show that he has claimed them to haunt. He is like a demon, but also a ghost, and also a spook. The moments of suspense are too much to take. The ghost is too scary to actually look at the screen. He is just a guy in a suit....but he has like no face or something....There's something mysterious. But, the camera guy, he secretly follows the girl around and stalks her. Then he says he loves her. Then there is this guy in the camera...but the guy takes his camera everywhere...it's connected I think.

It's not bad...

[xxmisssvxx · 7/10 · 2 October 2021]

I think footage horror films get bad ratings because people hate them in general paired with their low attention span to actively focus on the storyline. Personally, there's something about found footage stories (minus the excessive camera shakes, which I hate) from the POV of a character (or characters) that makes this type of horror feel more real. Even if the storyline needs improvement.

This film is actually decent for what it is, and since it follows the creepy character Slender Man, it has its redeeming moments throughout the film - as your attention span allows you to view it in whole form.

I would watch this over the actual Slender Man (2018) film version that was straight trash; and that wasn't found footage style at all. So, if you're in the fence about watching this because of the reviews, just ignore them and watch it. It may start off slow or unappealing but it does progress over time.

And might I suggest to watch this alone, at night, in the dark, by yourself. It will increase that creepiness you seek.

Horrible . Don't waste time

[cristinar-825-383756 · 1/10 · 19 September 2021]

Horrible directing horrible acting the worst movie ever made.

Don't watch if your a big MH fan

[makayla-60269 · 2/10 · 28 October 2016]

I am a huge Marble Hornets fan and this was nothing like it. It was like reading the Percy Jackson books before seeing the movies... this is just my opinion though and i'm not hating on the makers or the movie its just not what i expected i guess. And if you like the movie that good for you i guess. I was also really confused because the names of the characters i didn't recognize and i know most of their names. (Alex, Jay, Tim/Masky, Brian/hoodie, Seth, the Operator and Jessica) if i missed any other characters i blame it on my really short term memory. So if your a MH fan and you are thinking about watching it then don't. If you want to check it out for yourself then go head but I didn't in joy the movie.

Average found footage, with all its antics and flaws

[quincytheodore · 5/10 · 28 July 2015]

This movie may resonate more to those who are familiar with Slenderman or Marble Hornets web series, practically anyone who has interest in internet creepypastas. The transition for cinema uses hit-and-miss medium of found footage, but at least it justifies them to constantly carry cameras. It's nothing much from usual found footage cliché and for what it's worth, it may be mildly amusing when it runs its course.

A group of journalists investigates abandoned houses to document foreclosure process. They find a collection of tapes in one of the houses, which display a sort of haunting entity. Soon this lanky ghostly man starts to haunt them as well. Underneath the suit and modern gimmicks, the movie is pretty much mediocre haunting, only extensively recorded.

It presents the usual tension with dark corners and lingering object that may or may not be present. There's an effort to bring more tech stuff as parts of tension, yet it's no more than Grave Encounters and the likes have done. In some scenes it can get pretty immersive and intense, although these instances are too brief and certainly not that many.

Flaws that have plagued this subgenre are unfortunately here and they are clearer than the flickering apparition. It's all too common when the situation escalates, characters would scream at the same time to emulate real life debacle. Filmmakers should know by now that it's very overwhelming and unappealing to have first person perspective of bickering, and this movie does it in excess.

Cumbersome shots, particularly slow motion and a couple of jittery scenes are expected although not exactly welcomed. It may work as popcorn flick, but the stale use of the subgenre doesn't invoke much fascination.