This is another found footage/fake documentary that turns out to be better than most, at least for the first half.
Deborah Logan is in the early stages of Alzheimer's when a student film crew comes to her home to document the disease's effects on Deborah and her daughter, Sarah. I think everyone fears the possibility of losing their faculties as they age, and experiencing the horrors of the mind and body slowly but surely deteriorating. This is what makes the first half of the movie so effective. At first, Deborah is just forgetting things, having mood swings, and sleepwalking, which, through the documentary filmmaker's lens, are all creepy enough. But when she starts upping the creep factor, doing things like furiously gardening at night (which may only seem normal to R. E. M.), Sarah starts to worry something more sinister is happening to her mother.
Ultimately, it becomes more of a straightforward possession movie, and that's where I started to lose interest. There is one twist on this possession that we get to see right near the end, which I'm sure was supposed to be shocking and scary, but it actually made me laugh out loud. I think, instead of yet another possession story, it would've been better to just hint at the supernatural stuff and leave it up to the viewer to decide if Deborah's increasingly erratic behavior was due to the disease or a demonic presence.
The final act of the movie also demonstrated everything I hate about found footage films. The shaky camera work. People yelling and crying and screaming over each other. People making stupid decisions. The darkness. Actually, darkness was an irritating theme throughout the entire movie. I get that things are spookier in the dark, but it makes absolutely no sense for the characters to repeatedly walk around a modern home filming everything with just flashlights or camera lights and NEVER TURNING ON THE ACTUAL HOUSE LIGHTS. "Hey, an elderly woman who may be a danger to herself and others is missing! Let's search for her in the dark!" Groan. Hot tip: If you want your fake doc to seem more real, have your cast act more like real people.
Deborah Logan is in the early stages of Alzheimer's when a student film crew comes to her home to document the disease's effects on Deborah and her daughter, Sarah. I think everyone fears the possibility of losing their faculties as they age, and experiencing the horrors of the mind and body slowly but surely deteriorating. This is what makes the first half of the movie so effective. At first, Deborah is just forgetting things, having mood swings, and sleepwalking, which, through the documentary filmmaker's lens, are all creepy enough. But when she starts upping the creep factor, doing things like furiously gardening at night (which may only seem normal to R. E. M.), Sarah starts to worry something more sinister is happening to her mother.
Ultimately, it becomes more of a straightforward possession movie, and that's where I started to lose interest. There is one twist on this possession that we get to see right near the end, which I'm sure was supposed to be shocking and scary, but it actually made me laugh out loud. I think, instead of yet another possession story, it would've been better to just hint at the supernatural stuff and leave it up to the viewer to decide if Deborah's increasingly erratic behavior was due to the disease or a demonic presence.
The final act of the movie also demonstrated everything I hate about found footage films. The shaky camera work. People yelling and crying and screaming over each other. People making stupid decisions. The darkness. Actually, darkness was an irritating theme throughout the entire movie. I get that things are spookier in the dark, but it makes absolutely no sense for the characters to repeatedly walk around a modern home filming everything with just flashlights or camera lights and NEVER TURNING ON THE ACTUAL HOUSE LIGHTS. "Hey, an elderly woman who may be a danger to herself and others is missing! Let's search for her in the dark!" Groan. Hot tip: If you want your fake doc to seem more real, have your cast act more like real people.
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