Atrocious is another entry into the found footage cannon of horror from Spain. You already know if you are intrigued or not just from that. Lots of people hate the found footage gimmick because it has been over-used and is a crutch for lazy filmmakers (or just those without a mega-budget). I, personally, like a well-done first person horror movie. Blair Witch kicked it all off and creepy features like Rec, The Last Exorcism (until the last two minutes), Trollhunter, Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield have all entertained me to some degree.
Atrocious decides to play a bit with the conceit by fast-forwarding or rewinding so that important bits of info are held back until the very end. They could have done this a little more, actually, but it works in the small doses here. The idea is that a family of five (and their dog) are headed to a disused vacation home. There is a Shining-style labyrinth in the backyard that the children are forbidden to enter. The eldest son and the middle daughter fancy themselves amateur filmmakers and set out to investigate the local legend of a ghost named Melinda who may be a helpful spirit or might rip your ass out of your mouth (depending which version of the local tales you believe).
The usual found footage problems crop up (why would they film that?) but if you go along with it, it can suck you in. There is a seemingly interminable stretch of just one character running through the labyrinth at night, breathing heavily and passing the same shit over and over again. Despite that one low point, the rest moves along at a healthy clip and it has one of those endings where you don't want to be right but you totally are about what is going on. In fact, you will probably be one step ahead of the movie the whole time.
It is a solid but unremarkable horror movie, worth a watch if you like found footage stuff.
I had my inaugural viewing of the original Fright Night tonight, as well. I don't know how I missed this one growing up as it is an essentially 80s movie. The guy from Herman's Head and the neighbor from Married With Children play two horny teens whose attempts at going all the way are thwarted when Chris Sarandon moves in next door and is a vampire. The black guy from Die Hard 2 shows up for a funny bit as an incredulous police detective, by the way. Roddy McDowell is very delightful as a horror movie actor/late night movie host who is called upon to put his fictional vampire killing skills to good use.
The movie just jumps right the hell in and doesn't really let up on the plot. Nowadays, this would be a slow burner but Herman's Head is going to the police within the first fifteen minutes or so, accusing his neighbor of multiple murders. This is both a plus and a minus as the plot moves quickly but the final confrontation seems to drag on and on.
There is a campy humor to the whole thing, as if everyone in the movie is having some fun. The usual sexual subtext of vampire movies is right there on the surface when you watch this. The problem with the fast and loose approach to the whole thing is some inconsistencies in the plot (how does Sarandon's Renfield walk around in the sunlight? Why can Roddy McDowell sometimes use a cross effectively and other times he can't?) but it isn't a movie to be taken too seriously.
I had fun watching it and felt I was laughing with the movie most of the time (rather than at it). I just wish I has seen it when I was a kid.
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