Evil Things

Some friends celebrating the 21st birthday of one of their members decide to spend a winter weekend in the country, relaxing in a large modern home in the woods. Before they even arrive they begin to feel they're being followed.

The story is told solely from the point of view of found footage, apparently anonymously delivered to the FBI.

I found the acting to be quite good - at no point did I not believe these were some kids out on a weekend trip.... except for the unnatural way the one kid CONSTANTLY filmed everything. Guess I can look the other way since without him we'd miss much of the movie.

On the whole, not enough happens and the ending is confusing and I'm left wondering what happened.

The filmmakers completely and utterly ruined their film by adding a soundtrack to the latter fourth of the film. It adds nothing, breaks any "this is real found footage" spell successfully cast up to that point, and WORST OF ALL covered up certain sounds like the phone ringing and some of the kids' panicked conversation. What a bummer.

I can't recommend this movie. Even if there was a more natural version lacking a silly soundtrack, not enough happens at the end to justify the time it takes to watch the movie.

This film wasn't scary, it came across to me as a bunch friends who don't get along, bicker at the slightest problem. The go to girls screaming was obnoxious and unnecessary at every chance. When the script is thin, fill it with talking to the character who is filming the entire time. Save yourself the time effort, better films out there.

I was halfway through this movie before I realized I'd seen it before. Found footage is as found footage does. But - unlike 98% of FF movies - I thought the characters were believable enough, and I didn't hate them all. Yes, there was the usual bickering, screaming, frenetic running, and overall idiocy we've come to expect, but the creep factor was actually quite effective in some places. I still have no idea how you get lost in the woods when you have 5 sets of tracks in the snow you could follow back home or why you're still hanging onto the friggin' camera, but the bar is always low for found footage. Given the "competition" in the subgenre, this one isn't terrible.

I love found-footage movies and even some of the bad ones but this doesn't follow basic rules of the genre.

1. There's a soundtrack 2. Ambiguity can be a major plus, but there has to be something in the movie that gives you something to think about after. 3. Don't fill the 90 min movie with 65/70 mins of b-role. 4. Don't let the actors go over the top until the end. 5. If you get lost in the woods then fair enough but not when there's f#%king snow on the ground and your footprints would lead you all the way back home! 🙄

As many of the other negative reviews have mentioned, the performances are really quite good. The concept is also interesting - an unidentified stalker filing the kids as they are filming each other. But I see two major downfalls in this film - one is the poor use of a terrible soundtrack over the last 1/3 of the film. It shouldn't have one at all (found footage, remember?) - and it's also badly done. WAY too loud, you can't even hear the dialogue through it. The other flaw is that too much time is spent on chaos without obvious cause. The group of friends start freaking out and running around too quickly, and then it just continues in that manner for what seems like an eternity. Of course, once everything falls apart, there's nowhere else to go.

It's a shame. Wasted opportunity.