Apartment 143 - Residenz des Bösen

The reviews of this movie really got me excited. I had just about given up on this style of horror films, so to hear that one was getting some very positive buzz got me fairly excited. But as with "Grave Encounters", I found myself feeling letdown the further the movie progressed.

The idea behind "Apartment 143" is interesting, you have a group of scientists investigating a possible paranormal haunting. Seeing them act very professional about the whole ordeal was fairly entertaining. This alone is what made the film feel a tad fresh and original. The scares were decent but as events unfolded I found myself getting tired of seeing things move around and what not.

With the recent explosion of films along this genre it is hard to really surprise the audience, and that is the main problem this movie had. You arn't going to see anything here you haven't seen before. That doesn't mean that the movie's not entertaining, it will hold your attention throughout, but you can't help but feel like you've seen this entire thing before in tons of other movies.

If you really have an urge to watch a "Found Footage" horror film and you have already seen "Paranormal Activity", than this is probably the best available option atm. Just don't be fooled by all the buzz, this isn't anything great, it is a entertaining yet forgettable movie that is worthy of killing a week day night.

There are some great scares in this movie that kept me going. Then there were the terrible ones. And the long, drawn-out drama scenes that just didn't work for me. Maybe because they tended to be clichéd scenes that I already knew the ending to that they tried to extend for dramatic effect but fell flat. At the end of one of those scenes, one of the actors was laughing, and I don't think she was acting because it was ridiculous. The premise was okay, but I don't feel like they stuck to it. In the end, you don't know exactly what happened or why. And I didn't even care. It's just not that good. On a side note, as I looked this up, I saw Michael O'Keefe in the cast! I realized, "Oh! It's the kid from Caddyshack!" He didn't do a bad job, but I thought it was funny.

'Found Footage'/shot at home style horror movies are 10 a penny these days, mostly because they are relatively cheap and easy to film. As such, it takes a lot to make them original because there are so damn many of them. This had it's moments of originality but for the most part was same-old, same-old. However, Apartment 143 starts out a lot better than most, jumping straight into the story without the tedious back story of the investigators or family padding out the first half, which was a good move.

The basic story is that there are some spooky goings on surrounding a family consisting of Dad, daughter Caitlin and son Benny. The investigators pitch up in their house and stay there, setting up their equipment and monitoring the situation. There are a few jump scenes thrown in here and there, and some rather confusing explanations as to what is causing the phenomena.

The acting was mostly decent throughout, and the way the investigators conducted themselves was a lot more interesting than the typical cliché investigators, who freak out at the slightest thing.

The reason the Paranormal Activity money-grabbers are so dull is that virtually nothing happens, and if it does it happens right at the end of the movie. Thankfully Apartment 143 does give the viewer some supernatural goings on very quickly, and they are not badly done, but overall I felt it was just a little boring. Nothing like as bad as PA, and I watched the whole way through, but it wasn't 'edge of your seat' stuff, and none of the jump scenes got me.

The one thing I did like was how the tension built for the one scene where they are using the constant flash on the camera. I thought that was really well done, and the best scene in the movie.

All in all, it wasn't a bad found footage movie, and it might scare you a bit if you're not a horror buff, but for any aficionados it wasn't up to much. See it rather than Paranormal Activity, but for something better with more scares, grab Grave Encounters instead.

It kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I watched it with a friend who is much more sensitive and he was terrified; said he'll "never watch a scary movie again." I watch a lot of horror movies and this one is a must see. It is a short film but worth every minute. It's like if you took out all of the scary moments from paranormal activity 1,2&3 and just made a movie out of that footage, but this movie is still much better. In it's 80 minutes you will find the perfect blend of action, suspense, supernatural occurrences and scary images. It didn't scare me as much as the ring did but that is one of my all time favorites. The story line is original and I don't think you will be disappointed.

Apartment 143 gives us a look at a supposedly haunted apartment. The difference here is that the scientific investigators are looking for scientific explanations rather than the supernatural. It's a neat idea, but leads to some heavy exposition scenes that betray the found-footage set-up. Perhaps if these had been explained in talking head interviews it wouldn't seem so clunky and forced. The film does well to have a little mystery behind it and the cast are generally rather impressive. One of the biggest problems is how quick it wants to start. I don't find that these films work without a decent amount of build up. Here, the camera crew walk in and stuff is happening almost immediately. I also got tired at the scientists continued explanations of stuff when it was clear that some of these things were impossible to explain. Some decent effects and genuine scary parts make this a fine effort, but with a bit more time and some better pacing this could have been so much better.