The Fear Footage 2: Curse of the Tape

Have you ever seen a found footage movie before? If so you'll know they follow a strict formula.

Introduce the characters Take them to a haunted location Weird things happen People go missing They justify why they're still recording Running, screaming, night vision Camera falls to the ground, credits roll

That describes easily 99% of found footage features, they're cheap and cheerful to make therefore indie filmakers with zero money or talent pound them out like hotcakes. The first Fear Footage movie was a great example of this, non-existent budget, zero enjoyment and an all round awfully made movie brought to us by people with no imagination or skill at crafting a story.

Fear Footage 2 is almost the same movie as the first just with minor tweeks. Regardless it still ticks the above boxes and is yet another found footage movie that can be dumped onto the pile of forgettable awfulness with all the rest.

Until this found footage phase ends I suggest you avoid them and watch something with more substance.

I waited for something to happen, I assumed the film was a slow burn to some incredible payoff then after little over an hour the credits rolled. Where was the film? Where abouts was the content, the horror, the storyline? It has none of these things, it's a series of laughable attempts at horror imagery with little to no connection. There is absolutely no story here, it's just mess.

Fear Footage (2018) is certainly not the kind of movie you'd expect to get a sequel. I stand by this due to its budget, its obscurity and that it was 17 shades of terrible. Easily the worst movie of that year it was a cringe worthy attempt at a horror that had me wincing face palming and angry that I'd given it my time. For some reason I gave this second attempt a try and once again I'm angry that I did and even more angry at the creators for thinking this constitutes as a horror movie. Badly made, badly written, badly acted, there really is no excuse for this. For the love of everything that's good in the world lets not see a third part.

The Fear Footage was an unexpectedly fun ride. It renewed my waning interest in the found footage subgenre. The sequel, as is the case with many sequels, does not live up to the original. This one is not an anthology, and it falls prey to the trap that many found footage films fall into: a loooooooong buildup. The tension was the key to the original's success - there wasn't a single wasted minute. We waste many minutes here. Decent once it finally gets going, but that isn't enough to make it recommendable.

Is this a good movie? Not really. Is it as bad as the reviews suggest? Absolutely not. So what is it? It's about as average as average gets in found footage horror. The premise is great if you are one of the few who enjoyed the 1st, like myself. It has some pretty good moments, just too many BLAH moments. Will you revisit it or even remember it a month from now? Probably not. But 1 star? No.