Let's Be Evil

Seen this movie on Netflix it looked interesting. I came here to IMDb to find out a bit more info on it and noticed it's high rating and stupidly gave it a go.

DO NOT BE FOOLED LIKE ME!!!!!! A lot of inflated ratings of 10 but this movie is rubbish. Basically the entire movie 3 idiots walk up and down a corridor with weird flashing lights and trying to act scared. I had no care if they lived or died in fact I wanted them all to die so this movie could finally end. Not really anything I can say that is actually good about the movie it had me somewhat amused for a while it's not scary and it is not even in the least bit thrilling or suspenseful.

I can't believe I wasted my time watching this movie. I hope in writing this you will save yourself precious time and watch something worthwhile

The only way anyone didn't end this mind numbing mess before it was over was if they passed out from boredom, then awoke when it was over because it was that baaaaaaaaaaad.

Jenny (Elizabeth Morris) is struggling with money and caring for her bedridden mother. She gets hired along with Tiggs (Kara Tointon) and Darby (Elliot James Langridge) as chaperons in an underground facility. She is surprised to learn the subjects are little children being trained in a learning program with augmented reality. Everybody has to wear special glasses to see. There is the AI named Arial (Jamie Bernadette) to assist the newcomers. There are no other adults around. The kids communicate through the virtual reality and remains silent except for Cassandra (Isabelle Allen) who befriends Jenny.

The movie is mostly filmed in the first person POV through those augmented reality glasses. As long as there are two or more people in the scene, it can switch back and forth almost like a regular movie. It's not until Jenny is alone that the movie is forced to be a solo camera affair. The camera restrictions and the glasses on everybody do distant the audience from the acting. I don't think the acting is bad but it is constrained. On the other hand, there is an opening rant that screams cheesy B-movie. The over-the-top acting there needs to be cut.

One of the problem is that these are kids with no real superpowers. Nobody picks up a weapon, or even a stick. It's obvious the augmented reality could be compromised by the kids from the beginning. This is literally a horror that could be solved by a simple flashlight. It would be more compelling to have the augmented reality forced on them like an injected microchip. I kept thinking they should take off those glasses and light up the situation through another means. There is also a twist that is obvious from the start. It's completely expected and I simply waited for it to happen. The only positive is that the augmented reality looks fine especially if you compare it to the spartan bunker setting.

This film has the best trailer I've seen in years, a good combination of lights, colors and funky music. Then as a British Horror enthusiast I was thrilled to see it was a British movie.

The praise stops there.

Three actors a mixture of talent, two good females one awful male actor, a warren of tunnels that are probably the same and the worst American accents ever. Everything was American, it was like it was pretending not to be a British movie, but it was.

The story is very "damned" similar, but that's also where that ends.

Unfortunately the story was just too awful, 45 minutes in I just couldn't go on, it was truly unbearable, boring and utterly tiresome. You could have slept through portions and not missed a thing.

So sad it was so bad, it could have been so good.

Decent watch, if forgettable, at best, won't watch again, and can't recommend.

(Please keep in mind that the mobile app erased my original review, so I'm a little peeved.)

My biggest concern with this movie is that it concentrates on fear mongering against technology more than creating a good movie. I understand that it's supposed to be a psychological thriller, but that should be what you're concentrating on and not teaching the audience to fear technology: just tell the story.

In fairness, it did do a lot with a clearly low budget: low level actors you won't recognize and (mostly) kids for background characters, Google Glass (or similar) tech, an underground bunker setting, and not particularly great cg effects, but they managed to get by.

The real crux of the story is that isolated in a bunker, they kind of think they're going mad, so "what's real" comes into play, and then it becomes the inevitable question of "is it me or is the technology out to get me", and when that tech is a virtual OS (think Cortana), then there is no telling what is going to happen so there is no expectation, thus nothing to subvert. Its a rule in both Horror and Comedy to play with the audience's tension / expectation (Rules of 3) to establish a pattern, and then break/deliver on it in a surprising manner.

The camera work also messed with me quite a bit. Not only do you have a switch between natural 3rd person camera work and 1st person perspective, the camera work alternatives between almost imperceptively still and wildly jerk about as the audience was intended to experience an earthquake. It feels like the movie was trying to be "Hardcore Henry" esque, but didn't actually do anything special with the camera angles and distracted with the Head's Up Display (HUD).

There's a movie here, you might even like it, but I'm willing to bet that the movie is too unique without much spectacular happening for most people to enjoy it.