I walked into this one expecting another generically entertaining horror film. Boy, was I wrong! If you are looking to be spooked out of your minds, this one definitely takes the cake!
The movie is about a bunch of young adults who sneak into an abandoned haunted asylum to try and open a deeply haunted room known as Room 402. They do this in order to get a lot of views for their live-stream of proving paranormal activity in the asylum and make a lot of money in the process through ad revenue (typical millennial ambitions). The story wasn't bad, but it was predictable. However, story is not the selling point of horror films in my opinion.
The creep factor was stellar, the direction made near perfect use of the recording/live-stream gimmick, and the sense of dread and mystery kept the audience hooked when things started getting interesting. Furthermore, the jump scares were done in moderation and I was not fed up with it by the end of the movie. That is definitely a plus!
The acting was great. The actors do a good job of portraying silly young adults looking for cheap thrills and excitement.
However, certain scenes were rather pointless or made no sense. The cliched joyful and fun-filled segment making 1/4 of the movie (a strange staple of a lot of Asian horror movies) was a bit too long, and served no purpose to the overall plot. There was also some form of teleportation in the movie which felt like lazy writing, and one scene near the end involving the background of a computer also felt forced and cheap. Furthermore, the direction tried to keep the realism of live-stream gimmick of the movie, so there were parts where the scenes hanged and lagged (to add to the immersion and realism). I found this annoying but this seems to be a matter of taste as I am sure others would appreciate this cinematic touch.
Be that as it may, do not let these minor flaws put you off this amazing horror film. I highly recommend lovers of horror to give this a try! As an avid horror film hobbyist, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this movie. Definitely check this out!
