Z/Web

I really dreaded this would be like Cloverfield, a gimmicky film whose “big secret” turns out to not be much of a secret at all. My biggest criticism of this is the marketing, which hints at a monster we never see, as though that’s the draw of the film. In truth, though, the monster is only 10% of what this film is about. What works is the excellent 1970s setting and the relationships between the kids. (The plot is about some kids making an 8mm horror film when they witness a terrible train derailment and after that, mysterious bad things start to happen all over town.) I loved the kids, realistically portrayed with all their awkwardness and innocence and childishness. There are characters you can relate to: the main kid’s mother has just died, there’s a girl who might be abused by her drunken father, a fat kid who’s forgotten in a crowded family, a firebug, and so on. All this is set in an atmosphere of the 1970s, with paranoia of a Russian invasion high and a government that does mysterious things seemingly without oversight. I loved that the casting is mostly unknowns: that helps sell this and makes it feel more real. Their performances are slightly uneven, but that just makes everything even better, and most of the time they are astonishingly good. And I really loved the movie within the movie (stay tuned during the credits to actually see the zombie movie the kids made — it’s hilarious and worth the price of a movie ticket on its own). Film-wise and thriller-wise, this doesn’t feel too innovative. It’s fairly paint-by-numbers, with a few nearly silly scenes of mysterious sounds, off-camera monster attacks, etc. I guess that’s supposed to build our anticipation of seeing the monster (a la Cloverfield), but I just found it tedious and insulting. It’s one thing if the characters in a scene don’t know what’s going on, but it’s quite another when they can see stuff and tricky camerawork hides the details from the audience. (At least Cloverfield had a “found footage” motif that meant the missing details were the result of amateur camerawork; here we know it’s deliberate and it feels like a cheesy slap in the face by the director as he yells “Ha ha!” at us.) But fortunately, this film has plenty of other juicy meat for us to chew on (unlike Cloverfield) so this technique doesn’t ruin the film. The plot, while it has a few puzzling holes (Security cameras at rural gas station in the 1970s?), generally works and I liked the ending and explanations very well. There’s nothing earth-shattering here, so don’t expect much, but trust that despite the gimmicky film techniques, things do make sense in the end. The bottom line is that this is a terrific film: it’s interesting and different, fun with a hint of camp, and has both tender and humorous moments. Two thumbs up.