Infrared

Thanks to the utter brilliance of writer/director and possible heir apparent to Steven Speilberg Tommy Wiseau, I can never see actor Greg Sestero as any character other than Mark, and I subconsciously say "oh hi Mark" when he pops up. Infrared, which Sestero also produced, really could use some Wiseau magic. As found footage "ghost hunters in an abandoned location" films go, this one is no better or worse than most. That isn't saying much. The cast is capable and tries but you can only do so much with what they've been given to work with here. It tries to literally check all the found footage cliche boxes and mostly does. It's watchable but far from memorable.

Greg Sestero is perhaps best known for his first starring role in Tommy Wiseau's 2003 film The Room. However, he has moved on since then and has written a book, The Disaster Artist, in addition to being in a number of films, including the upcoming film, Infrared, which is now available for streaming this year. While most may write the film off due to Greg's association with The Room, this film shouldn't be ignored.

I really enjoyed the performances of Greg Sestero and Jesse Janzen. Jesse gave a vibrant performance as Wes and energized every scene he's in. He perfectly portrayed the host of an amateur paranormal investigation show. However, the true star of the film is Greg Sestero as Geoff. He perfectly played the affable nature of a school teacher and Greg himself has so much natural charisma that I wanted to see more of him. Compared to his acting in The Room, this is a major improvement. Finally, Leah Finity, while not as outgoing as the other three, was also very likeable as Izzy and acted as a good foil to Wes.

My biggest gripe with the film was its pacing. The film's runtime added up to about an hour and a half, however, the beginning moved at a snail's pace. I understand it was introducing characters and setting up the stage of what's to happen, however, I felt it could've been done in a bit more of an interesting manner. Additionally, there are several scenes that could've been shortened down, for example, the séance conducted by Izzy. Another small nitpick I had with the film was Sarah's demonic voice near the film's beginning. It sounded too robotic and voice changer-esque.

With that said, the film excelled at building tension and intrigue. The film, similar to The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and many other great horror films, is a slow burn where you would have incredible difficulty pinpointing when the film's tension starts. And it manages to do this with very few jump scares, which were well-integrated into the film. The tension was further helped by the characters being both engaging and charismatic. With this, I actually had some investment in where the story went, something that many other found-footage films fail to do, including both Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity.

Overall, Infrared is an engaging film that breathes new life into not only the horror genre, but also the found-footage subgenre. With great performances by Greg Sestero, Jesse Janzen and Leah Finity, along with an amazing buildup of tension, Infrared is a must-see film for horror fans!

This is basically the gist of this movie:

* two tapes are found. One is about 10 minutes, the other is rest of the movie.

* literally nothing happens in the first hour of the 2nd tape.

* things start to happen suddenly and it's great for about 2 minutes.

* villain basically spends the rest of the movie monologuing * the end

Skip this movie.

It's just a giant snooze fest of some guy trying to make a generic ghost hunter show except he's really bad at it. At one point he mentions he finds his producer and crew on craigslist and given the camera work I believe it.

Most of the entirety of the movie is just someone badly making a ghost hunter type show.

I'm guessing there was 1 writer for this movie who had no one to bounce ideas off of as far as the script goes. On top of that the lady's acting was absolutely terrible. Wes' acting however while not incredibly great was actually not bad. The script took away from his acting skills I think. A better script could've made him seem a little more authentic cause he had his moments. Usually getting into his line he was good but by the end of his line or lines he lost the ability to be called a good actor. The writer had a good idea regarding what the next setting and lines would be but it seems like he got bored half way through each scene and rushed it just to be done. My advice take your time and keep with it. Some acting was actually so good I couldn't tell it was actually a movie... had to go check because the mannerisms and lines were superbly authentic, like the lady in the coffee cup scene... super job. I'll give it 4 cause I actually watched it.

I couldn't make it through more than six minutes at a sitting. I ended up refilling my empty spice and seasoning containers and rearranging my spice rack. Ya, that was more interesting than this film.

Can't even call it a slow burn, more of a tepid leftover omelette. This film was like, a handful of folks binged watched Grave Encounters (pretty good films those two are) and Hell House LLC and every other iteration in that sub-genre and decided to toss their hat in the ring.

IMO it's a failure. Can't recommend it for any reason.. I've spent more time writing this review than I have watching the film in one sitting.