Die Präsenz

While I saw a load of scathing reviews on my way into this, I made a point of not reading them. My expectations were suitably low, making a nice surprise possible (but let's be honest, unlikely).

I actually quite enjoyed it.

Sorry to those throwing rotten vegetables at this film, but for what it is, I felt it did the job reasonably well.

It's by no means perfect (or even 'really good') and I'm not going to ladle on the criticism because that'd be like shooting fish in a barrel, also, it's just mean.

What this film does possess, when compared to Blair Witch and the other found-footage franchises is the actual quantity of the paranormal activity (note the lower case letters). The supernatural entity in this is more active, vocal and just plain loud than those I've seen before. While this would make being there even more terrifying without a doubt, to the viewer I always feel that less is more.

With so much crashing and banging etc, with Becky scared out of her wits and the sleepwalking/nightmares that accompany it, that would be all the more reason to just jack it in and get the hell out of Dodge. "If you really loved me Markus, you'd save me from this hell..." (unfortunately not a direct quote from this)

The one piece of 'constructive criticism' I'd offer is that duringthe PA-esque nighttime infrared sleeping scenes, they build up tension reasonably well with noises and camera interference. Why then ruin it with sudden loud music and camera zoomery for a cheap jump? Less is more, young German padowan.

Food rotting from one moment to the next, while their back was turned was a nice little effect. Ditto with the ball disappearing then reappearing.

Rebecca really, really should have told Markus that she didn't like it and she was leaving. Now. With or without him. But no. She moans and is terrified but goes through with it, even though she claims to have felt that the entity wanted to do them harm. Sounds like my ex wife: passive/aggressive.

If you can't stand up when you need to and lay down the law, then I'm afraid that you're kinda asking for it.

Enough of my marriage councelling/pop psychiatry...

Insults/recriminations/threats etc inspired by my review of this please place below:

I have now, like many of us, seen pretty much all manner of "Found Footage" flicks. Some pretty damn good. Some so-so. And FAR too many just flat-out dreadful. However, out of this whole "Hit or Miss" bunch I can't recall one that wasn't made in the USA. That is until I took a chance on a German entry into this past-it's-prime genre, "Die Präsenz" ("The Presence"). And I gotta say, I would plop this one down right smack-dab between "pretty damn good" and "so-so" on the worthwhile-to-watch spectrum.

You will likely join me in finding that it takes a good while before things get crackin' here (Do the Germans have a fascination with prolonged camera shots of watching people sleep? As in, like, SEVERAL such scenes). But once Writer/Director/Producer Daniele Grieco (hey, dude pretty much HAD to do it all on a reported $40,000 budget) fires things up here the ages-old haunted castle terrorized by an unseen and ruthlessly inhospitable entity yarn gets a fairly fresh new spin that should leave you both sufficiently entertained and adequately creeped out.

I am not gonna lie; this is the most generic paranormal movie I have ever seen. That being said, nothing about it ever made me want to stop watching. Never did I think that it was a bad movie. For some reason, it seemed fitting that this movie was generic, and it somehow made perfect sense. There is not anything negative to say about it, but there is not really anything positive either. It is a perfect, bland movie. There is not much to suprise you, but it will not disappoint either.

The Presence is yet another demonstration of just how much the Blair Witch Project (1999) has to answer for. Every filmmaker with minimal funds seems to be choosing this cheap and nasty sub-genre and making a carbon copy of a thousand movies that came before it.

German made it tells the "Highly original" tale of 3 friends who perform a supernatural investigation in a castle. So cue the night vision, randomly moving objects, static, and lot's and lot's of screaming.

I have nothing against found footage per say, I'm just tired of each movie being the same as the last. When it comes to the sub genre I'd say there is a neat little scale, at the top you'd have Rec (2007) and Grave Encounters (2011) and it goes all the way down to Fear Footage (2018) and Paranormal Entity (2009).

At no point does it feel like this is being filmed inside a castle, it's limited to a couple of rooms and quite frankly they look like a combination of a persons house and a barn. I would have liked to see a castle setting, would have made a fresh change from asylums and haunted mansions.

Alike most other movies in this sub-genre very little happens, it suffers with all the usual tropes and cliches and ultimately is boring, lifeless and more evidence that found footage needs putting on the shelf for a while.

The Good:

Nope

The Bad:

Music/sound effects have no place in found footage

Very badly structured

Wasted setting

And shouldn't have send the footage back to be honest. This is the most boring, non-scaring film I've seen since .... well another flick I found on Netflix.

It's supposed to be about two guys and a girl going to a medieval castle to investigate paranormal activity. At least the boys are, the girlfriend of one is dragged along for the ride. It's setup with some very brief background info/lore and then we're off. To watch black and sepia couloured videos of people sleeping, of hearing bangs and other noises, and seeing blurred images as "stuff happen".

Midway through the film the girl begs for them to leave, and I think that should have been the best really, as it would have cut this rubbish offering down to maybe half. They didn't, and she didn't get rid of her broken boyfriend and that in the end cost her dearly. And him of course.

Cheap effects, cheap production in general, pointless script - half decent non-screaming acting is bearable, which is kind of the kindest I could say about this mess.