Atrocious: terror paranormal

The film has a very promising premise for any horror fan - a story with paranormal elements, a small cast and filmed with a hand-held camera (think of the suspense!). This immediately sets the expectations high - I was expecting a Spanish Blair Witch Project or perhaps a successful spin-off of Rec.

In reality, the friends I went to the movies with got nauseous because of the constant shaking of the camera and I did not flinch once. It must be said, though, that Atrocious does a good job of misleading the viewer - something I rather enjoyed, but some others might find disappointing.

The biggest flaw, however, was that the movie got lost in itself. The producers were clearly so caught up with the whole amateur-footage-spooky-places-run-and-scream theme that it engulfed the whole movie, making everything else that happened inbetween seem like one long filler. And then combined with the completely unexpected ending, Atrocious might just leave you feeling a little indifferent about the whole thing - and nauseous, if you're like one of my friends.

Overall, it's a decent little horror flick, but nothing that would keep you up at night.

A family are staying at their holiday home in Sitges in Catalonia, Spain, and one of the kids, Cristian, is fascinated about the myth of Melinda - a spirit of a woman who supposedly haunts the labyrinth outside the house grounds. Cristian gets more background stories regarding Melinda from a family friend, Carlos, but these versions of events are much more sinister than the version he already knew. Determined to see if there is any truth to the stories of Melinda, he and his sister, July, document everything they can. However, after their dog goes missing one day, things soon start taking a horrible turn for the worse.

Atrocious is a POV "documentary" style of film and while we all know that's not an original style anymore, the film is still very good. Making a labyrinth the subject matter for the myth of Melinda was good because they can be creepy enough through the day if you get lost, but to be lost in one at night (especially the one shown in the movie) and knowing of a myth surrounding the labyrinth is downright terrifying.

The night scenes are obviously where the movie escalates, and they ARE scary. You watch intently as Cristian tries to make his way out of the labyrinth at night as you never know what is going to happen. Even when he's supposedly safe in the house at times after, there is still that unsettled feeling of "what's going to happen?" The movie may be considered a wee bit slow for about the first 30 minutes or so, but I didn't feel that it was. For me it was all a good build up to the inevitable scarier scenes and climax of the movie.

The actors are all very believable in their parts, and do a really good job in making it seem like a real documentary of events. The end scene of the movie is a nice touch to make it that wee bit more convincing too (obviously can't say anything else it will give it away).

If you enjoy watching movies of this style then there's a good chance you'll enjoy Atrocious. Good film and well recommended.

Despite that it treads very familiar territory and doesn't really bring anything that fresh to the found footage genre it still remains as formidable than ever. The film starts off pretty much like The Blair Witch Project introducing us to ordinary people who are documenting their research on figuring out an old legend but soon get attacked by an unknown force or being and things turn from normal to terrifying. This film is uber creepy with an fantastic atmospheric setting that will send chills to your bones and intense suspense that will have you grabbing you seat as well as believable performances from the likable leads that makes the whole ordeal that more effective and downright disturbing. It was scary but doesn't have a lot of nonstop jolts like the Paranormal Activity series but the intensity is their and the fear of the unknown and the big reveal at the end was clever and shocking and gave it an even more sinister tone that will get under your skin but still expected something bigger and different but liked the direction it took which was a different change of pace. The violence in this film though basically off screen is brutal and twisted once revealed after the fact and is the things of nightmares. Overall I wouldn't say it's with the top dogs of the found footage genre but I liked it a little bit more than the very disappointing Paranormal Activity 3 and I liked the direction it took more and this one was just more unsettling and better executed and a more disturbing story. Worth a look just don't expect something with tons of jump scares just more shock value. 6.3 out of 10

First off to the reviewer complaining that it was too long the whole thing was an hour and 10 minutes! Have some patience It's one of the shortest movies i've ever watched!

This movie is about a family that owns a house out in the countryside of Spain. There is a legend involving the maze that is attached to their house. However the kids who are curious types are forbidden from their father from going in there.

Being a huge fan of hand camera horrors I was eager to discover this little gem. It's short and to the point before you know it. I have seen various ones such as Noroi, rec, etc, i am a veteran in this vein so take it from me it's good!

The thing I liked the most about it was it was very realistic feeling and very intense and creepy and at one point when they're in the woods I checked how much time was left on the movie cause i was anticipating a scare in one scene and I rarely do that with movies unless they're scary

Bottom line is, if you like hand camera horrors, realistic scenes and tense feelings with goose bumps watch this now and enjoy it! you won't be disappointed.

People on IMDb tend to rate hand camera horrors really low for some reason but I think most people that review and hate on them don't actually like that "genre"

To create a great environment for this type of movie: turn the lights out, watch on a big screen, and by yourself its only 70 minutes who cares if you're alone. I guarantee you if you set that formula up for yourself you'll be wide awake after like I am.

I usually don't write reviews but I wanted to warn anyone that may be planning to watch this movie.

A 5 in this type of movies is not that bad, so I decided to watch it, knowing it wasn't going to be great, but I was in for some cheap thrills.

Truth is, this movie is terrible. The characters are annoying, the only thing they do is shout and freak out and shout, even about their everyday things. The main character is a scumbag...there I said it. It's impossible to empathize with any of these characters.

But they are not the usual level of annoying (for this type of movie), they have take it to the next level. Apparently it was the debut for some of these kids and they needed to let all their emotions out.

No need to mention that the story is bland. That's not so important I guess, since this movies are all about atmosphere and not really intricate plot twists.

The worst part though, is the camera shakes. They tried to make it believable by adding twice the shake (and zoom) as in the usual found footage movies. I don't need to tell you that the results are the worst I have ever seen. It's hard (if not impossible) to know what's going on, at some point I thought this movie was going to give me a seizure.

Conclusion: be warned, don't waste your time, this movie isn't worth 5 minutes of your time even if someone pays you to watch it.