Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Strange Apparition

262) The Apparition (2012) Dir: Todd Lincoln Date Released: August 24, 2012 Date Seen: August 23, 2012 Rating: 0.5/5

At first, the utter incompetence of this sub-Paranormal Activity knockoff* seems like it might be just intentional quirkiness. The film begins with a seance and then rapidly fast-forwards to a seemingly unrelated suburban scene. Then events keep unfolding at a hurried, though not necessarily urgent, pace. This is mostly because The Apparition was apparently edited with a hacksaw and Todd Lincoln has never spent talked to a living person. His tin ear for human speech, his cast's oddly unmotivated performances, and the slapdash chain of events that lead to an unearned pitch-black finale all make Lincoln's flick a  giant digital dooky of a film. In that sense, it reminded of The Devil Inside, another PA ripoff that is just as nakedly opportunistic and free of the generic ambition that made Oren Peli's film at least immediately compelling. Also, like The Devil Inside, the film is a shot-on-digital flick that tries and tries and FUCKING TRIES AGAIN to replicate the AV violence inherent in VHS home movies. And it especially fails on that level. What a piece of poop. #2 worst film of the year, for my money (Devil is worse).

*Note: Yes, I know that horror movies exist prior to PA. But this film is explicitly a rip-off of the trend revitalized by said film.

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