Trace

Stumbling upon the 2015 horror movie "Trace" by random luck here in 2024, and thus opting to sit down to watch it, since it was a horror movie that I had neither seen nor heard about.

Writer and director Ryan Brookhart put together a fair enough script and storyline for the movie. It does incorporate some rather generic supernatural tropes, but it ultimately proved to be adequately entertaining nonetheless.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that is something I actually do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. The cast ensemble in "Trace" was good, and they performed quite well in bringing the characters and storyline to life on the screen.

"Trace" wasn't a movie that made use of an abundance of special effects or CGI, but it hardly needed so in order to effectively tell its story. There were some effects, and they certainly worked out well enough to further the narrative of the movie.

It is an adequate enough movie for a single viewing, particularly if you have an interest in EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). And while I did sit through 90 minutes that the movie ran for, I doubt that I will ever return to watch it a second time. Why? Well, simply because the storyline and script doesn't have the contents to support multiple viewings.

My rating of writer and director Ryan Brookhart's 2015 horror movie "Trace" lands on a five out of ten stars.

One of those films you think isnt bad until it just ends with no end to the story. You can guess what actually happened but that's it.

So, you're having a few beers with your mates, and start to talk about studies etc. One of you says what about EVP, ghosts etc, and as you don't have an ouija board handy, you try out some audio stuff instead. Luckily, the house you're in has a recording studio in the basement, which makes most other basements look stale and musty. So, you trot on down, and then do some recording, think its all for fun, until the next day.

Yep, its a similar story line that a lot of demon type horror films tend to have. Also, think Final Destination, in the way that both films play out. Still, its an interesting concept, the EVP.

Also, word to the wise. If you hear a sound in your apartment/house etc late at night, please tun on the lights. I guarantee the intruders will leg it, or you can see nothing is there. Why, even in this day and age, do people in films hear a noise, and creep around in darkness, asking if anyone is there, when the only residents of the house are calling out that phrase.

First off, this movie isn't scary. It doesn't have any suspense leading up to the kills, a dreadful atmosphere, or a eerily told story. If you're looking for gore, there is none here. Nothing in this movie is gory. If you're looking for suspense, as I said, it's not here. What is here in abundance is bad acting. Throughout the movie I kept saying, "God, that's some terrible acting." If you want to watch a movie filled with actors who aren't any better than you then by all means watch "Trace."

Another thing I didn't like was the swaying cam. That's where the camera isn't shaking but not steady. It kept jarring me out of the movie because it was painfully obvious the cameraman was tipsy. I don't like watching scenes with people lying in bed and the camera is swaying constantly. But that's the type of stuff I saw. The camera was still for less than 30% of the time. I couldn't get into the movie at all.

Lastly, the kills were too abrupt to be scary. That's what I don't like about modern horror. There's no suspense leading up to the kills where you're tensing up, thinking, "Oh, this douchebag is gonna get it." Instead, they victim just gets stabbed out of nowhere and the impact of his death is too sudden to feel any emotion about it. In this movie, some of the kills are off-screen and the ones that are on screen aren't original, innovative, or surprising. The characterizations are so lame and the kills so boring that I couldn't even muster up the strength to say, "Meh." when someone got killed. All in all, there's no point in watching this movie. No suspense, no gore, no nudity, no interesting characters, nothing.

I liked the set up, and the ideas were pretty good, but I don't think the execution was there. I know EVP is something horror films are covering now, and even though EVP itself isn't a good theory. It's a great theme for a horror, and the beginning of the film is right it was studied in Russia during the Cold War.

I liked the fact they were meant to be students studying sound. It was a nice touch.

The actors weren't that good, I wasn't really drawn in, or find it remotely scary and the ending was a bit boring. It's certainly no Banshee Chapter which covers a similar theme but it's much scarier. It had potential, but it didn't quite reach it.