Despite being no fan of found footage films, many being terrible and amateurishly made, 'Char Man' did sort of intrigue me as the advertising was sort of cool and while silly and hardly original the concept was one that could work if done right. Keep saying that there is no bias against low budget films, still stand by that and do realise that it is hard to make a film and a lot of time and effort is needed to do so.
Just that there are films that do much better in this aspect than others. There are far worse films out there than 'Char Man' and it is for me nowhere near among the worst in the found footage category. Although it does have many of the components that makes me not care too much, to put it lightly, for found footage films. It is far off sadly from being one of the watchable ones, one of the exceptions, which are too far and between. Am not going to be malicious here, never am (or at least never intend to) watching and reviewing films etc, the aim for every review written is to come over as honest and sincere and that is going to be the aim here.
Lets start with the good. There are far worse-looking found footage films, at least there is a little style and atmosphere and at least you can decipher what is going on.
Really liked the scenery too.
Other than that, 'Char Man' is a failure. Had real trouble getting behind any of the characters, all of whom were bland and obnoxious. Trying to forgive that they are less than fresh walking cliches for a minute, there were few likeable traits, not enough chemistry and when it was there it felt very awkward rather than genuine, character development was fairly minimal so they came over as bland and their behaviour and decision making lacked logic and further made them annoying. This is all accentuated in the pretty dire all round performances, with a lot of over-acting and awkwardness going on. Other parts of 'Char Man' are not so good-looking visually, with an attractive and unique town, although the scenery is still lovely, being portrayed far too ordinarily in general, and some of the photography is pretty lifeless.
It's the script and especially the story and its pace that most dooms 'Char Man'. The script is not much of one at all and is often paper thin, none of it sounds natural and it even sounds like it was made up on the spot with no experience in not making it stilted. The story is even thinner to the point of non-existence, it takes forever to get going and has so many aimless stretches that it goes nowhere a lot of the time. It picks up slightly in the last 10 minutes when it feels like something happens finally, but it feels too little too late and is nothing to get excited about. Not once is there any tension, suspense, scares, surprises or thrills, and really sucks the fun out of a myth that actually is that. The interest value is barely there too, because the pace is so pedestrian.
Concluding, a very weak film. 2/10
