Inasmuch as horror films broadly tend to follow a general thrust, or at least one of a few general thrusts, found footage is often especially formulaic. That's not to say that new iterations can't be worthwhile on their own merits, but as this one begins with six students on one last trip together, cataloguing their experiences, we're already informed none will survive, and the only question remaining is the precise course of events and the nature of the danger they will face. If nothing else this can boast a terrific filming location for the setting of an abandoned underground bunker.
On the other hand, for more than half its length of just under eighty minutes, that's all there is to be said of '11:23-09:59,' or 'Project Angst.' Truly. These students give each other dares relative to their fears, and we get a peek at dynamics between them, then all of a sudden we're more than halfway through the runtime. In the back end one character volunteers information for the camera that comes out of nowhere - portending Something More with which the movie does nothing - and others begin to behave strangely, then that's a wrap. One might reasonably say that we in the audience are to suppose that the characters have gone mad, but the simple fact of the matter is that there has been no progression. The narrative doesn't develop over time, but only throws events at us out of the blue. From changes in behavior, to statements that are made, to the movements of characters from A to B, there is no meaningful rhyme or reason given to anything in the latter half.
It begins unremarkably, and it ends even more unremarkably. I don't doubt the earnestness of anyone involved but filmmaker Stefan Jäger has given us seventy-seven minutes of nothing. Yes, we have nice filming locations; a handful of lines spoken at the beginning by an unseen figure suggest there may be discrete events to follow. There aren't. I can only assume '11:23-09:59' was intended as some found footage variation on psychological horror, but nevermind that the latter genre requires a delicate touch - there's no story here, just a vague assemblage of undefined happenings that have no tangible connection to each other.
I'm glad for those who get more out of this than I did, for I truly don't know how anyone can manage to do so, and they are to be congratulated. I guess this broke from formula after all, but it did so in the worst way possible. Whatever it is you think you'll get out of 'Project Angst,' as far as I'm concerned you won't find it. Move along.
