Emergo

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!

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.

'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 gives us a look at a supposedly haunted apartment. The difference here is that the scientific investigators are looking for scientific explanations rather than the supernatural. It's a neat idea, but leads to some heavy exposition scenes that betray the found-footage set-up. Perhaps if these had been explained in talking head interviews it wouldn't seem so clunky and forced. The film does well to have a little mystery behind it and the cast are generally rather impressive. One of the biggest problems is how quick it wants to start. I don't find that these films work without a decent amount of build up. Here, the camera crew walk in and stuff is happening almost immediately. I also got tired at the scientists continued explanations of stuff when it was clear that some of these things were impossible to explain. Some decent effects and genuine scary parts make this a fine effort, but with a bit more time and some better pacing this could have been so much better.

There are some great scares in this movie that kept me going. Then there were the terrible ones. And the long, drawn-out drama scenes that just didn't work for me. Maybe because they tended to be clichéd scenes that I already knew the ending to that they tried to extend for dramatic effect but fell flat. At the end of one of those scenes, one of the actors was laughing, and I don't think she was acting because it was ridiculous. The premise was okay, but I don't feel like they stuck to it. In the end, you don't know exactly what happened or why. And I didn't even care. It's just not that good. On a side note, as I looked this up, I saw Michael O'Keefe in the cast! I realized, "Oh! It's the kid from Caddyshack!" He didn't do a bad job, but I thought it was funny.