Tape 407

Before watching this movie I read several reviews and was so disheartened by them that I was ready to burn the DVD and forget about it, but then, remembering past similar experiences decided against burning the CD (pollution) and to give it a try.

I started watching the film with great apprehension, specially after hearing the squeaky, high pitch, unbearable voice of the blonde girl, but breathing deeply I kept firmly in my decision to see this movie.

I was quite surprised to find it not bad at all! specially the first part, until the plane crash. From then on, this gimmick with the hand held camera as the only visual support for the story was a bit too much, and later on, almost oppressive and tiresome to a screaming point (my nerves!).

I'm sorry the monster didn't kill the blond teenager at the very beginning of the movie, because she was really unbearable. The fat passenger was a very good actor, because he really was that kind of character that you want to strangle with your bare hands, and he kept it up for the whole length of the movie.

The airline hostess was another lovable character, and a very good actress, since she really gave the impression that catering to airplane passengers was her daily métier.

I found two unpardonable faults with this film: The hand held camera as the only camera to shoot the whole movie and the very last scene, where we get to see (fortunately very briefly) something that should have never been shown. When will they learn (the makers of thrillers) that showing "the thing" is always a let down for the believability of the story?

That's why in "Rebecca" (Alfred Hitchcock - 1940) Rebecca never appears, not even for a moment, not even as a shadow. She was (they specially emphasize it) "the most beautiful creature I have ever seen" as one of the characters says and who could have portrayed such a creature? (Ava Gardner or María Félix, of course) but there is nothing like our own IMAGINATION and Hitchcock new it.

In this case I'm afraid they didn't know that.

The movie is too noisy with screams and shouting and crying and that goes on for too long with a hand held camera shaking your brains continuously by moving hysterically in all directions at once, making the watching very fatiguing. But it isn't such a horrendous film as so many critics said in their reviews. I don't have the heart to recommend it, I'll leave it up to you.

While many of the film-going public squawk about the gluttony of superhero films that are polluting our theatre screens on a repeating basis, it is with found footage films that I have reached my fill.

Made popular and mainstream in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project, there have been more dismal efforts (Apollo 18, The Zombie Diaries, The Feed) than there have been engrossing ones (Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield). Yet week in and week out, whether it be in the local theatre, video on demand or on DVD, there are release after release of found footage films with budgets of less than the average person's minimum Visa payment.

This week's latest cash-grab is Area 407 (also promoted as Tape 407). The film opens on a plane travelling between New York to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve where a young girl, Trish (Abigail Schrader) and her sister Jesse (Samantha Lester) are using their camera to video capture just about everything and everyone around them.

Side note: how is it in these found footage films they all have cameras with batteries that last so long as to even baffle a NASA scientist? After the obligatory introduction of a few central characters on the plane the passengers and crew celebrate New Year's Eve with cheers and noisemakers until a bad storm and turbulence send the darkened plane into a freefall. The plane crashes in a remote government testing ground and the handful of survivors that are left, band together in an attempt to find their bearings in the darkened night of their secluded surroundings.

But as we learn rather quickly, the plane crash was only the beginning of their nightmare as they are being stalked and hunted by some predatory creatures that look like mid-sized Jurassic Park raptors.

Armed with only their wits and a single gun coming courtesy of the Sky Marshall on board (how convenient she survived) the group will find their numbers dwindle as they struggle through the night for survival.

Area 407 was filmed in only five days and (according to IMDb.com) all the dialogue was ad lib. The dialogue before the plane crashes was actually engrossing banter that had our interest focused on the central characters.

But once the survivors collect themselves amongst the plane's wreckage, things go off the rails and the cast begin to yell, scream and draw out too many inconsequential conversations likely just to inflate the running time to a feature accepted 90-minutes.

As with most found footage films, the camera work is shaky and downright annoying. You will feel jerked, dropped and nauseous as the camera is passed between various characters that seem more intent on capturing their demise on film than putting down the damn device and using their senses to gather their bearings.

Directors Dale Fabrigar and Everette Wallin keep the creature out of sight and in the dark for most of the film which could work if you develop enough tension and atmosphere. But in Tape 407 audiences aren't engaged to any sense of caring or urgency and seeing the creatures in more detail would be the trade off for the long-in-tooth banter we are intended to endure.

Tape 407 ends in unexpected fashion with a conclusion intended to shock (I guess). But without caring about any of those that may survive or face their fate, you will likely just want it over at any cost. Even at the cost of writing off the video-on-demand investment.

www.killerreviews.com

Another one of those found footage movies that you really wish nobody ever "found". Not only are the characters super fake and annoying, they all entirely ad-libbed their lines, which sets you up for each character repeating everything over and over since there was no script. The special effects are even worse. It's almost physically painful to watch. I really wish they could make a good found footage movie without the acting being super awkward. Nothing about it was realistic or even close to believable. The little girl with the pigtails will make you wanna rip your head off. She says she's thirteen but she acts like a little five year old. It's exhausting. If you are unfortunate enough to watch this movie then you are in for an hour and thirty minutes of pure torture.

i just got to say this is the worst film ever! what is wrong with these people? is it desperation? since lately i've noticed that almost every one is taking this homemade approach to films, where they have this one person or two running around with a camera thats delivering some real shaky video quality that makes the film really uncomfortable to watch. i mean u have movies done like this before that are exceptional, like CLOVERFEILD for example or even CHRONICLE i enjoyed those a bit but this..... oh man such a massive waste of precious time. and whats with all the constant bickering and unnecessary noisiness and confusion in the movie? its very annoying! and this movie is made almost exactly like TAKE SHELTER where for some reason u only deserve just a few seconds of what would have been the best part of the movie and then bam!! u get end credits, i mean seriously man! whats up with that?

I expected this too be really bad, well it wasn't one of the best found footage movies but i't's far from being one of the worst! (I think of just seen to many of these movies lol)

However if you can take a lot of shouting and yelling for about 85% of time, you may be able to enjoy this a little! and on top of that you may need to take in a very whinny girl for 10% of movie as well, it dose clam down in the last 30 mins! (You May needs ears plugs for some scenes, this is coming from a person who's deaf in one ear!)

The first 20 mins of movie were really dull and talking to the people on plane , countdown for new years day and the plane crashes!

I was little disappointed with the crash , it was good but they could have done a lot better.

I enjoyed that we did not see what was attacking the survivors at first as the movie goes we do get to see bits of the creature at times.

You will be able to see the whole creature near the end, which you will either find really silly and funny or scary (Which don't think anyone will be)

There also a little curve in last few mins of the movie, which I am so baffled by, I just did not understand that scene at all!

I thought was great idea and the acting was not too bad at all, I did found some scene boring at the start but most of the movie was so-what entertaining.

Found it descent 5 out of 10