Apocalyptic

The great thing about Chinese food is that you don't have to work very hard to eat it (or at least I don't). I just begin to shovel food in my face.

I was very glad I picked up Chinese food before sitting down to watch Apocalypse because I was so glued to the screen for the last 20 minutes I didn't even realize the bowl was empty.

I'm assuming some people will draw similarities between "Apocolypse" and Ti Wests "The Sacrament" (both based on cults and both released this year) and those similarities are many. However "Apocolypse" is a grittier, more realistic-feeling interpretation of what I think it would look like inside a Doomsday Cult.

While researching "The Sacrament" I kept seeing references to the real life Jonestown Massacres (loosely based upon it?) and that took away some of the mystery for me while watching the film. With "Apocolypse" I had no such pre-conceived notions and therefore was genuinely enthralled by the film and it's surprises

The phrase "shoestring budget" is mentioned on a few websites when I was researching this film I think it was filmed in a very short amount of time with a minuscule amount of money but YOU COULD NOT TELL!

This film looks as good as any major motion picture FoundFootage film out there (Devils Due, Delivery, PA). Even the small details of the film are pretty fantastic, down to the hand-made animal skin shoes the women wear.

Its refreshing for a horror film not to rush and shove the gore in your face. Apocolyptic takes its time and, like a good campfire, uses it's kindling to feed the progression of a growing fire of suspense.

The only downside was the lack of character development of the Cult leader: A Creepy, frail, pale, bald-headed, white-robed re-incarnation of Jesus (supposedly) I wanted to know more about him and really understand why these people worshiped him. The premise of the film revolves around him and his followers but I didn't really feel his charm or charisma come through the screen.

Aside from the similarities to "The Sacrament" I found this a wholly fresh take on the Found Footage trope.

It's amazing just how many so-called 'found footage' films there are these days. After the success of "The Blair Witch Project", many other independent filmmakers have also sought to make their mark with small budgets and films that supposedly consist of actual footage from real (and usually scary) events. The basic idea isn't bad but there is a problem with too many films trying to cash in on this style of picture. In other words, after a while the films start to have a certain sameness to them and few of the more recent found footage films are particularly watchable. This is my problem with "Apocalyptic", as it fails to break new ground and has an all too familiar ending.

An Australian journalist and her film crew are shown at the beginning of the movie attending an AA-type meeting for addicts. However, one of the participants talks about having escaped from a cult and the reporter smells a story. So, she and the crew get permission from the cult leader, Michael, to stay with them and record their lives. The cult, it turns out is very small--with about a dozen people in it. All are women apart from Michael.

At first the group seems odd but also quite happy. Sure, there are some weird aspects to the group--such as Michael claiming to have divine authority as well as his sleeping with most of the women. But the group still seems fairly normal. However, through the course of the film, Michael reveals himself to be a Jim Jones-type guy and he plans on a mass suicide. This final portion was not especially original--not only because of the famous Jonestown tragedy but because of another recent found footage movie, "The Sacrament", which pretty much recreates the Jonestown deaths. It also comes off as a bit exploitational and creepy watching all this at the end as opposed to being scary.

So is it any good? Well, the film work is pretty much what you expect from such a movie and you get the jerky camera, folks running and the like. But the story, as I already mentioned, lacks freshness. It's just a case of 'been there/done that' and the ending is clearly what most folks watching the film are expecting. It would have been a lot more interesting with some OTHER twist--anything but what the film seemed to telegraph during the first hour or so of the picture. I think everyone associated with the project tried hard and it's watchable, but nothing more unfortunately.

As usual, I went into this film with very little knowledge of it beforehand. No trailer, no synopsis, Nothing. What I got was a very basic, low budget, uninspired, clichéd and incredibly tiring film that is a prime example of why certain people are not suited to making movies. Making films requires technique, ability and a craft that is not possessed by just anyone, and simply because you have some cameras and a competent cast does not make you a film-maker. Found-Footage is a genre of film that, at its best, is effective and incredibly convincing. At its worst, as this film undoubtedly is, it shows that the writer/director has a combination of several things; a lack of talent, lack of budget, and a lack of knowledge in film composition. The worst offender of this film is that it does not even attempt to do anything original or new; it just retreads well-worn territory in a mundane and clearly artistically-limited way. This movie is one of those films that will be relegate to the annals of notoriety for not only being a bad movie, but for being a waste of time. That, in itself, is the worst offense. A bore from beginning to end. Complete and utter rubbish, and should not be given any time or attention.

Refreshing film from Australia picks up on the new trend of combining found footage and Cults. Two documentary filmmakers follow a trail of clues until they are invited to spend a few days at a cult deep in the forests of Australia. When they get there things start really getting bizarre.

As they start following the daily lives of the cult members and interviewing them it becomes clear that things just aren't right. The leader, a creepy old man named Michael, regales them with tales of the apocalypse and their little group's role in it. The cult is comprised only of women and girls. Where did the men go?

Comparisons can be drawn here to Ti West's "The Sacrament," and rightfully so, but this one is so much more bizarre and sinister that it seems more like a horror movie than a rehashing of the Jonestown Massacre.

There are allusions to pedophilia and murder and so much else. The mood is just perfect and the scenery is at once beautiful and strangely creepy. The ending is startling as well as ambiguous and just perfect for this type of movie. It definitely kept me enthralled throughout. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, and fans of horror in general.

In general, all found footage films require you to lower your expectations. The very nature of this method of filming is to eliminate the need for special effects, large crews and complicated staging.

"Found footage" is synonymous with "Expect less." That being said, the exercise in minimalism has a tendency to refine and strengthen plots and is more demanding on the actors. So there are strengths that arise.

This film shows few of those strengths. The acting is not abhorrent, it's reasonable, but still remained unbelievable. It felt as though it was trying too hard. My personal feeling is that the acting failed because the plot itself was unbelievable and didn't really hold it's own. There are simply too many holes in the idea. Tiny little questions that you end up asking yourself that pull you out of the illusion. "Why did he say that? Why did they do this? Why would ANYBODY do this?" Every found footage film's greatest challenge is a battle with common sense. If the actors don't behave in the way that any normal person would, then the illusion is destroyed. There are simply too many places where common sense doesn't prevail.

That and the predictability of the plot kept making me wonder why the actors didn't see it coming. It was fairly obvious which direction this was going to end up going.

And lastly, poor choices by the editors. Your movie can't appear to be real when the camera angles keep shifting but the SOUND doesn't alter.

It came off as weak. Or even worse, it was unremarkable.