Atrocious

Atrocious (2010)

*** (out of 4)

This Spanish entry in the "found footage" genre has a brother and sister going to their summer house with their parents and younger brother. The place is close to an urban legend of a small child who got lost in the woods but was never found. The legend has it that if you get lost in these woods that her spirit will show up and lead you out. There's also a version that isn't so friendly. These found footage films, in my opinion, delivers some of the greatest scares in regards to horror movies and this one I found to be quite effective. I like this genre so much because the films require you to use both your visual and seeing senses at all times. You never know where in the frame something is going to happen so your eyes are constantly trying to hear things and your eyes are bouncing around the frame just waiting to notice whatever might be there. This is a type of exercise that also has your mind running at full speed and this is where the suspense comes from. ATROCIOUS isn't the best the genre has to offers as there are a few plot points that I'd question but there's still no doubt that the film was very effective and very scary at times. There are several scenes in the woods where the kids get lost and you just keep waiting for something to happen to them. Director Fernando Barreda Luna does a very good job at building up the suspense and making sure the viewer is constantly on the edge of their seat. The final showdown in the woods was highly suspenseful even if how they got there left a bit to be desired. As for the ending, I won't ruin it but I don't think it perfectly closed up the film as I had hoped. Still, the performances are good and the "found footage" stuff was nicely done and made believable. ATROCIOUS is a good, creepy film that manages to use atmosphere and suspense over gore, which is always a good thing.

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.

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.

This movie would have been awesome if it was cut down to about 30 min. I was excited about this movie hoping it would give me the same chills that "The Blair Witch" gave me when I first saw it and to its credit it did… to an extent. I found that this movie spend the majority of the time running around aimlessly in the woods breathing overly heavily with absolutely nothing happening. These scenes got very boring, very fast.

I felt that these overly long scenes killed it for me. At times I felt chills at the back of my neck and that paranoid feeling I get when I'm scared watching a movie and then quickly that would fade away to boredom and annoyance due to a scene that was ridiculously long.

To the movies credit, if they cut those horribly boring long scenes this would have been a great movie. I loved the relationship between the Brother and Sister and how they would go out and explore together even though they were not allowed. It reminded me of my Sister and I when we were younger.

I also loved the whole storyline with a really awesome twist at the end. I loved the creepy maze, creepy house, creepy basement, creepy ghost stories and Etc. There was so much amazing about this movie but when you add overly long scenes of someone annoyingly breathing super close into a mic and a camera shaking and running so much you cant even see what's going on it absolutely kills anything good and creepy about the movie.

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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