The Ridges

Forget whether or the not you think the movie is scary or funny or totally made up. I graduated from Ohio University in 2010, and I have had my own experiences at The Ridges, so you may not believe it, but I've seen it!

Someone should make a movie about all the haunted dormitories; I lived in one and experienced the 2:30 am wake-up call from the dead girl's basketball team.

Ohio university is a fascinating place! Check it out for yourself! See the unmarked graves at the Ridges, spend a night in Washington Hall, eat at Jefferson Hall, walk the 1800's streets...and fall in love with the history!

The lead up to actually watching this, left me giddy in anticipation - a score of 6+ on IMDb surely meant that this movie was going to "do it" for me in my quest to find the best Found Footage genre film.

Reality struck however, less than one minute into it - though the prerequisite for a first person movie are all there - shaky cam, dodgy cut aways, even dodgier fade outs - all check check check. The problem was though, that the actors who clearly improvised their way through the entire shoot, just didn't seem to want to make their minds up whether they were ad libbing, or, reading their script.

Chopping and changing as such, means the movie is very disjointed, and very uncomfortable to watch - it's easy to see the takes where the director (Landers) was actually holding the camera, and which were left to the cast to film.

As the story revolves around the alleged haunting in an insane asylum (The Ridges) - it would have been better to film more at that location, instead of limiting it to the short sequences and then filling the rest of the movie out with shots that appear to have been filmed in a local furniture store.

Again, as is the want with this genre - a movie with lots of potential, is let down badly by the direction and cast - had they spent more time on the story, then the quick fills and rapid story lines would not have been necessary - for a great example of how to make this kind of film work - look at Grave Encounters.

Don't be fooled by the high IMDb score - this movie will leave you disappointed and quite frankly, embarrassed.

Avoid.

1/10

I watched this movie with my daughter, who is a Sophomore at OU, and frequently tells me that it's the most haunted campus in the United States. She was delighted to see this film, and recognized many of the locations.

Having said that, the film is very slow, the plot minimal and the characters are completely generic. The special effects are very odd, as far as we can tell were done on Final Cut 7, attempting to mimic film...? One or two of them were effective, most were just awkward and distracting.

The best thing that's I can say about the film is that it was clearly made by people who love the genre. There are many worse movies out there.

"The Ridges" is an ingenious little horror film, so well made it's truly scary, that arrives claiming it's the real thing. Without any form of conventional opening or closing credits, it begins by the Athen, OH police department has found this footage and closes with one of those "current whereabouts unknown" title cards and a screen of copyright notices. This was apparently a film made without a director, a writer, a producer, grips, makeup, sound, catering or a honey wagon.

All of the footage is presented as if it had been discovered after the fact. They've been bothered by indications of some sort of paranormal activity in an abandoned asylum.

One benefit of the story device is that for long periods of time the camera is ostensibly left on with no one running it. It's on a tripod at the end of their bed while they sleep, and we see events while their eyes are closed. Some of these events and very minor, and I won't describe any of them. The fact that they happen at all is the whole point. That they seem to happen by themselves, witnessed by a static camera, makes them eerie, especially since there are some shots that seem impossible without special effects, and there's no visible evidence of f/x, looking as closely as we can.

But like "The Blair Witch Project," with which it's routinely compared, it goes to great lengths to seem like a film found after the event. It works. It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored.

I do not know how to describe The Ridges??? Thriller? Mystery? Drama? Comedy? I guess the one thing that comes to my mind is Paranormal Thriller! I enjoyed the story and the direction of the movie but I was not a fan of the acting and the excessive cursing from those actors.At first I did not like the look of the filmbut...once i watched the movie again I understood that Rob suppose to not know much about camera specs.I wonder if they will decide to go forward with a sequel? Maybe the could explore more of the story/history in a sequel? I would not go in the same format as this one but maybe better acting. All in all I liked this movie.Im staying tuned.