Skew

In the wake of found footage greats like Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters, REC., Cloverfield etc. a movie like Skew automatically makes you have high expectations for it and be extra critical of it but I can thankfully say that Skew came pretty darn close at being in their league. The movie does have a pretty slow build up introducing us to three friends Simon, Rich and Eva on a road trip to a wedding, everything seems fine and dandy but tension soon builds when Simon starts seeing strange and unexplained images in his video camera that he brings along that makes faces of strangers that they encounter on the trip distorted and soon after tragic accidents involving the strangers that they meet occur. This movie has suspense throughout and an involving story filled with twists that will have you guessing and scratching your head til the very end but that is the film's major problem that there is more questions than answers and is one of those films that makes you come up with your own conclusions which I hate and is a shame because this movie had so much potential but the story seems unfinished. There are a few scares here and there and a lot of creepy and chilling scenes but nothing major enough to make you lose sleep over it but this movie is mostly story/character and suspense driven but then again an unknown movie with unknown actors and a limited budget it's pretty darn impressive and a gem even though it needs a little bit more polishing and fixing up the loosen ends. Overall it's like The Blair Witch Project meets Shutter meets Final Destination without the gore meets Tape but without any true, memorable scares and too many plot holes it makes you think what could of been especially with an intriguing and unsettling premise but it's definitely worth a look with patience and an open mind and low expectations. 6.6 out of 10

I usually like found footage movies but this one is a complete piece of nonsense, thanks to a very badly written narrative which leaves the viewer mired in a confused mess. The storyline involves a trio of friends going on a road trip and bringing along the inevitable video camera. After the slow first half, where we're introduced to these not very interesting people, the horror finally kicks in - what there is of it, anyway.

And this is where the film falls apart. There are dodgy ghostly visions of people and some of the characters go mad, but no real explanation is made. It's like there are a few events, spaced out, and a lot of ominous doom-mongering, but in the end little has really happened. I hated the incessant problems with the video camera which are vain attempts to make the whole thing scarier. It doesn't help that you actively dislike most of the main characters as well. I'm sorry, but the writer/director's refusal to provide clear explanations made me hate this one.

I first saw Skew at the Mississauga Film Festival. This is a psychological thriller/horror film that has found a new voice in its "found footage" sub-genre. Skew kept me wondering and waiting for more. The acting is good. The character of Eva is especially strong, haunting the audience with her wide eyes. The effects are subtle and work well in the grainy home video 4x3 ratio. Sometimes the scenes felt a little too long, but there were enough scares that I was compelled to see it again when I was in Manhattan for the Manhattan Film Festival. This second time I concentrated on the story and picked up on clever plot points that I missed or didn't seem to matter on my first viewing. Pay attention, this film is coming from a new direction that will side-swipe you.

I have been on a kick of watching found-footage horror films recently, and after watching what I thought was all I could find on Netflix, I happened to stumble upon this title. The picture was littered with rave reviews, which was enough to convince me that it was at least worth checking out.

I enjoyed the first two Paranormal Activity movies (haven't seen the third yet), The Last Exorcism annoyed me, and I don't even know what to write about Grave Encounters. My biggest complaint with these types of movies is that there is too much that is similar - I realize that there is only so many ways you can go, but there's no need to have the lead character who wants the "documentary" to go on no matter what, a swinging chandelier, or someone getting dragged by an unseen force is every found-footage movie about the paranormal.

Boy, was I glad that I watched Skew ... it avoided enough of those recurring elements that it could be considered - dare I say - creative.

The basic plot revolves around three friends on a road trip. The main character is seemingly obsessed with using the video camera, a source of increasing annoyance to his two friends. Along the way, the main character begins to see strange things through the camera, and strange things begin to happen to people who are seen on camera. The tension builds and builds until you are assaulted with a mind-twisting ending that, in my opinion, can stack up against any other twist ending out there.

The acting is much better than most of this genre, the "home movie" element feels very natural, and the few jump scares that are featured a more than enough to get your attention right away. I felt that some scenes dragged on a bit long, but it's not bad enough to truly annoy, and actually adds to the "home movie" feel.

Usually, the use of a musical score and other scary movie tones used on post-production irritate me (if this is truly "found-footage," there wouldn't be any background music, would there?) But in this case, the sounds used at the end amplify the effect ten-fold. And the ending - WOW. There will be those that won't be able to figure it out, and I admit that I am one of them. But the movie was that good that I am looking forward to watching it again to figure it out.

For fans of this genre, I highly recommend this movie, even if only to see something that is a little different. If you're not already a fan of the genre, this movie won't make you one. But that being said, this is one of the better movies I've seen the last couple of days, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head yet.

I just caught this on The Horror Channel and I'm somewhat perplexed what it was doing there . As the threadbare story unravels the possible horror element is people having distorted faces that led me to believe that I might be watching something along the lines of John Carpenter's THEY LIVE where a special camera alerts the viewer to alien infiltration and a scene of violence at the end but I doubt if SKEW is about alien invasions

It's also a very boring film like so many lost footage movies . One can understand low to no budget producers using this format since it requires little money for expensive cameras , film and a star cast but many of us consider the art of cinema as telling a visual story and these type of movies usually revolve around realist situations that are so realistic you could easily make the same film on your I-pod

In short this is very banal seen it all before stuff with guerrilla film standard production values . Unless I missed something it's not a horror movie and I'm very sceptical about other comments stating that you have to watch a couple of times in order to get it . I strongly doubt if I'll be watching this again