Emergo

'Found Footage'/shot at home style horror movies are 10 a penny these days, mostly because they are relatively cheap and easy to film. As such, it takes a lot to make them original because there are so damn many of them. This had it's moments of originality but for the most part was same-old, same-old. However, Apartment 143 starts out a lot better than most, jumping straight into the story without the tedious back story of the investigators or family padding out the first half, which was a good move.

The basic story is that there are some spooky goings on surrounding a family consisting of Dad, daughter Caitlin and son Benny. The investigators pitch up in their house and stay there, setting up their equipment and monitoring the situation. There are a few jump scenes thrown in here and there, and some rather confusing explanations as to what is causing the phenomena.

The acting was mostly decent throughout, and the way the investigators conducted themselves was a lot more interesting than the typical cliché investigators, who freak out at the slightest thing.

The reason the Paranormal Activity money-grabbers are so dull is that virtually nothing happens, and if it does it happens right at the end of the movie. Thankfully Apartment 143 does give the viewer some supernatural goings on very quickly, and they are not badly done, but overall I felt it was just a little boring. Nothing like as bad as PA, and I watched the whole way through, but it wasn't 'edge of your seat' stuff, and none of the jump scenes got me.

The one thing I did like was how the tension built for the one scene where they are using the constant flash on the camera. I thought that was really well done, and the best scene in the movie.

All in all, it wasn't a bad found footage movie, and it might scare you a bit if you're not a horror buff, but for any aficionados it wasn't up to much. See it rather than Paranormal Activity, but for something better with more scares, grab Grave Encounters instead.

'APARTMENT 143': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Another 'Found Footage' haunting movie. This one focuses on a family that recently lost their wife/mother who's haunted by the unknown, at their apartment and the house they lived at prior, and the team of parapsychologists tasked to investigate. It was written by Rodrigo Cortes (who also directed the claustrophobic thriller 'BURIED') and directed by rookie feature film director Carles Torrens. It's a Spanish film originally titled 'Emergo' but it's spoken all in English with American actors (including Michael O'Keefe of 'CADDYSHACK' fame). There's definitely nothing new or original to the story but the scares are effective and well done.

The story revolves around Alan White (Kai Lennox) and his daughter Caitlin (Gia Mantegna) and son Benny (Damian Roman) who recently moved in to apartment #143 of an apartment building after experiencing strange things at their old home. The unusual disturbances continue to haunt them at their new home and Alan asks a team of three parapsychologists, lead by Dr. Helzer (O'Keefe), to investigate what's going on. We soon learn that Alan lost his wife in a car accident and his daughter blames him for it. Helzer and his team constantly witness the drama between the two as well as weird occurrences they were told about. They're able to catch it all on video (of course) as the investigation becomes more and more bizarre.

Like I said there's absolutely nothing unique about this film but it is entertaining if you like spooky films full of shocks. The only problem is you'll soon forget everything as there's nothing memorable to the film. That's the thing about movies like this; they're a lot of fun while you're watching them but don't stay with you at all (I'm sure a year from now I'll barely remember this film). Still it's better made and more effective than something like 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY'. Scary movie fans looking for a few scares could do a lot worse.

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It kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I watched it with a friend who is much more sensitive and he was terrified; said he'll "never watch a scary movie again." I watch a lot of horror movies and this one is a must see. It is a short film but worth every minute. It's like if you took out all of the scary moments from paranormal activity 1,2&3 and just made a movie out of that footage, but this movie is still much better. In it's 80 minutes you will find the perfect blend of action, suspense, supernatural occurrences and scary images. It didn't scare me as much as the ring did but that is one of my all time favorites. The story line is original and I don't think you will be disappointed.

This movie, though very predictable, definitely had its moments of terror. The build-up before the moments that made you jump were great, and although I was fully anticipating what was to come I still jumped several times. The plot was decent and I appreciated how the characters were written. The acting was surprisingly good for a low-budget film, I was definitely impressed by that. The apex of the film was very intense and dramatic, if slightly cheesy. The only thing that really bothered me was the very, very cliché ending. I felt as though I've seen that very ending 10 other times in various other movies, it has been so over-done that it will ruin an entire movie for me. But other than the very end, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and would definitely recommend it!

Even though this is a movie based on the recipe of "Paranormal Activity" it builds on the concept of the "found footage" sub-genre, and it takes it one step further. By combining footage of many cameras and points of view this movie is just the right combination of "first person witnessing" and actual traditional cinematography. The thing with this movie, is that even though you can predict the scary moments before they happen, you still get very very scared. This is the brilliance of this particular genre - and film ! By trapping the viewer in the scene of the "crime", and forcing him to experience first hand whatever the bad "spirit" wishes to "communicate", the viewer is affected even when he is certain of what is about to happen!. The acting is nothing special. I think the actors took it abit too far by pretending to be "real people". However, that is not damaging for the movie, since it is not the actors that are important here, but YOU the viewer ! I would recommend this movie to brave horror fans, and those who want to make their girlfriends shriek in terror. I would also recommend this though, to film students, as this genre has great potential!