The Break-In

I am a big fan of indie horror. I watch pretty much every unknown horror that hits Netflix. So I figured I would give this one a try.......at first, started off much like a lot of the found footage movies out there.

Sets up the story and characters, filmed a lot like Paranormal Activity. But unlike a typical ghost story, this one was about a home invasion. To me, that was much more realistic than a demon in my house. I don't want to give anything away, but watch this film! And then tell me you don't double check every lock in your house afterwards.

The last half of the film is especially terrifying. Again, I am a big fan of found footage films. Some people hate them. But if you are a fan, this one is worth the rental.

Awh Found footage, a genre that at one point I was very interested/obsessed with, after I watched Blair Witch project I was very interested in finding other movies similar to it. Some years back I remember searching for similar films and really only being able to find like 4 or 5 legit ones. Then Paranormal Activity was released and the genre became extremely over-saturated, now a new found footage movie is released just about every week and they bast majority of them are absolute crap. Is "The Break In" a fresh new take on the genre, or is it more or less the same old crap we have been fed in recent times.

The film follows Jeff Anderson (played by Justin Doescher who also directs the film) who has just gotten a new smart phone which has prompted him to film every little thing in his house for really no reason at all. He has a cute wife named Melissa (Maggie Binkely) who is pretty much the most understanding/calm female I have ever seen in a horror film. Jeff has just recently installed security cameras in his house due to their being a break in in the area. Ultimately these cameras prove to be useless since the high majority of the movie is filmed from the perspective of Jeff's phone.

The Break In suffers from the same things that plague all these types of movies, more filler than actually thrills, no interesting characters, and a bland shock ending that is meant to leave you on the edge of your seat but really only left me shrugging and bored. That's really all there is to this flick, you spend the majority of the film watching Jeff and his Girlfriend kill time by shopping, hanging out with their friends, and talking about the fact that Melissa is pregnant. All that leads up to one big shock in the last 3 or 4 minutes of the film.

The Break In had me slightly intrigued when it first started, non paranormal story line and some decent acting, but in the end it was just another bland found footage film. I think it's time we let this genre die, at least for while.

3/10

I was really impressed by the originality of this film. I love watching Indie films, but oftentimes they aren't original and / or seem actually amateur (which, let's face it... if you're going to produce a film, shouldn't it be GOOD? Anyway..!). So this movie was GOOD. I was genuinely interested for the duration of the movie. And it's not long either, which was fine with me. It caught my interest. I liked the story. The acting was good. And it appealed to me throughout. I am giving it a thumbs-up because I ALMOST didn't watch this movie because of a couple negative reviews I saw, but then decided to (especially since it's only about an hour). I'm glad I didn't let their uncalled for negativity ruin my potential to watch a good movie! I'm excited to see more from Doescher. He really seems to have a creative mind and know what he's doing. Way to go, The Break-in!

If that triple combination, which seems to be so common nowadays (movies such as Creep, They Look Like People, The Good Neighbor), makes you tingly, you will probably enjoy this. But if you're not the biggest fan of either found-footage or mumblecore, which I admit I'm not, then this might fall a bit flat. The 10/10 reviews are friends of the filmmakers. It's way too obvious—not sure who you think you're fooling with a 10-star review that is your only review on IMDb. I think the 1- and 2-star reviews are a bit harsh, though.

I was moderately entertained until the last ten minutes of the film, which really soured me on it. Let me run through the pros and cons.

Pros: The basic set-up is simple, but intriguing enough to hold promise: an engaged couple, Jeff (Doescher) and Melissa (Binkley), who are expecting a baby, and prone to anxiety, start freaking out when they hear of others in the neighborhood being burglarized. Jeff gets a new phone and gets obsessed with recording everything on it, especially when he notices anything suspicious. Although they come off as a bit smarmy and bougie at first, the dynamic between Jeff and Melissa is good, and as the tension between them and the impending threat of a home invasion ratchet up, I felt myself on edge waiting for them to confront the danger, as you know they eventually will. Not much happens, as it is mostly dialogue, and thankfully I found the writing and delivery fairly engaging and convincing for this mumblecore style. One of the characteristics of mumblecore is naturalistic and sometimes improvised dialogue taking precedence over action; this dialogue is often contrived and is as likely to take me out of the film as immerse me in it. Dialogue that is trying desperately to be "natural" or "quirky" just sounds so obviously forced that it really isn't "realistic" (and I am bothered by the whole notion of films having to be "realistic" anyway). I'm not sure why I found the dialogue in The Break-In better, other than it felt, for the most part, like the way people would talk to each other, with a believable inflection and affect that was neither flat nor too over-the-top "actor-y."

Cons: First, the title is boring and isn't going to pull many people in, unless you're a sucker for home invasion fare, which this film only halfway is.

Next, while I enjoyed the dynamic between Jeff and Melissa, the friendship between the neighbors felt forced; they talked too much about how they loved being friends with and living next door to them. And the neighbors just aren't as good actors, though you don't really get to see them do too much.

Third, if you're going to do found footage, don't add outside music into the film. It always makes me stop and think, "This shouldn't be here." It's sparse, only used during the creepy night scenes when Jeff thinks someone is trying to break in, but at the end, there's a particularly egregious use of poppy music that's supposed to tug at your heart strings, which is baldly manipulative. Finally, most importantly, the last ten minutes is a mess, for several reasons that I won't go into because of spoilers. I'll just say that one problem is that it violates the found footage premise in more than just sound—we get an image that we later find isn't "real." This feels like a cheap move to trick the viewer. Then the "twist" ending, whether you see it coming or not, again feels too manipulative and not really earned.

One last note: although "horror" is the first genre tag, I don't consider this horror very much. There is an atmosphere of anxiety, which I associate with thriller, rather than a sense of dread, which I associate with horror. Still, that line is blurry, and mumblecore is pushing hard on that boundary. If you like movies such as Creep and They Look Like People, you might enjoy this, but if not, you might avoid it. For me, I'm split down the middle; it's good for a single watch if there's nothing better. Streaming free with Amazon Prime. 5/10

I was excited to see this movie after reading the plot. Once I saw this was taped with a cell phone (i.e. low budget style) that was a turn off but decided to give it a chance anyway. After the first 5 minutes into all of the rambling on chitter chatter about Bob and who the heck else they were talking about..I became so bored and drawn away from the film I almost forgot I put on "a movie". It reminded me of when your at a house gathering or art galley opening with many people that you do not know and everyone is talking in this monotone voice, eventually what all begins to sound like...blahh blah blah...blah blah ..blah blah. Have no idea if this cell phone captured something more interesting but these characters, voices and script was becoming annoying. More effort in the writing would have been more appreciated to start or maybe more editing to get things going.