My husband and I watched this 2014 movie last night as an afterthought. It was something to watch when we otherwise had nothing particular to catch up on. I wasn’t expecting much. Hell at first I wasn’t even sure if I would really watch it. I figured I would half assedley pay attention and then pass out snuggled under my blanket. Contrary to my presumptions I stayed awake and paid attention for the entire 90 minutes.
This is one of those movies following in the footsteps of “The Blair Witch Project”; hand-held cameras from people who are supposedly making a documentary, but we all know it’s just a movie. When I saw this was the basis of the film I rolled my eyes and thought, “Here we go again.” This seems to be the formula for so many horror flicks of late. It starts out kinda cheesy, but it gets better!
The plot begins with a group of 3 college kids making a documentary about Alzheimer’s. They are staying with an elderly woman and her daughter in a big, old house in a tiny town in Virginia, hey that’s where I live! The whole time I was watching this movie I kept thinking I knew the old lady from something, but couldn’t place her. She is the soap-opera actress, Jill Larson, whom spent the majority of her career playing Opal on “All my Children.” This was my Mom’s show when I was a kid. I spent every summer afternoon and sick day at home watching that show after lunch while my Mom folded clothes or something. I had seen her for most of my childhood and I couldn’t remember who the hell she was. I was kinda excited when I saw it was Opal.
Anyhoo, back to the movie, it turns out this lady doesn’t just have Alzheimer’s. The craziness starts pretty early on. I think one of the scariest things about this movie is the fact that it is an old woman who plays the spooky part. There is something really terrifying about seeing what should be a sweet old lady standing with her back to you in a dark room for a couple of minutes and then doing some crazy stuff after all the suspense.
The plot is decent, not really believable and sometimes a tad bit hard to follow, but decent. There is some not so good dialogue and acting. There are way too many scenes where the cast is running around in the dark with flashlights when you know damn well the lights in the house work. The gory bits that make you squirm, the suspenseful spooky scenes with Opal walking around in the dark or being somewhere unexpected and the crazy stuff that happens at the end make this a pretty good horror film. It is the first film written and directed by the new comer, Adam Robitel. I hope we see more form him in the future. I give this one a 3.9 out of 5. It is worth watching if you want a scare or are a fan of horror.
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