Posts Tagged ‘found footage’

V/H/S DVD Review: Definitive Proof as to Why Beta Was Better

Posted: 21 December, 2012 in Movies/TV
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V/H/S DVD Review: Definitive Proof as to Why Beta Was Better

Some of you may remember a point in the history of home video wherein amateur filmmakers who had managed to save up enough bread to buy a camcorder would make their own movies. These shot-on-video (SOV) items were usually of the horror variety, and were renown for their piss-poor quality in terms of, well, everything. Nevertheless, indie distributors managed to make a few bucks off these budget-less wonders — something that wasn’t too terribly hard to do in an age when rental priced videocassettes often sold to mom-and-pop stores for a hundred bucks a piece, and private producers could easily sell their wares at a much lower price. Read the rest of this entry »

Blu-ray Review: Greystone Park – Oliver Stone’s Son Strikes Out

Posted: 28 November, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Greystone Park – Oliver Stone’s Son Strikes Out

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Greystone Park – Oliver Stone’s Son Strikes Out on Blogcritics.

Although I have never been one to follow in my father’s footsteps, I could see how it would be easy to get caught up in the legacy he left upon the world were he a famous filmmaker. In fact, I can thoroughly envision what it would be like to grow up so consumed by the personal world he created that the world outside is easily shrouded from my view. Such a thing seems to have happened to Oliver Stone’s son, Sean, who — in addition to appearing in his father’s films (in small bits) — began his career as a filmmaker himself directing behind-the-scenes documentaries of his daddy hard at work. (more…)

The River: The Complete First Season DVD Review: Oren Peli’s Paranormal Holocaust

Posted: 22 May, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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The River: The Complete First Season DVD Review: Oren Peli’s Paranormal Holocaust

While police procedurals are and always have been a dime a dozen when it comes to television shows, the horror genre has almost always left something to be desired. Well, let me rephrase that: it has always left something to be desired if it’s anything other than an anthology show like Tales from the Crypt or whatnot. When studio execs decide to give the greenlight to something such wholly other, however, you can usually bet your bottom dollar that the end result will be disastrous. One glorious and ultimately thorough example is the recent ABC failure The River, which combined the talentless flair of the completely boring found-footage film genre with supernatural elements shamelessly lifted from several other movies.

[Read the rest at Cinema Sentries.]

*Blu-ray Review* Paranormal Activity 3

Posted: 24 January, 2012 in Movies/TV
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Blu-ray Review: Paranormal Activity 3

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Paranormal Activity 3 on Blogcritics.

It’s amazing how much you can get away with when you shoot for the whole “faux found footage” style of filmmaking. The people behind the original Paranormal Activity invested a mere $15,000 (which wouldn’t even cover the catering bill on a low-budget Hollywood flick) into their 2007 shocker and wound up with a gold mine. Some of you may recall another no-budget horror flick from 1999 called The Blair Witch Project that also relayed its tale via “faux found footage” — a gimmick inspired (and sometimes stolen) from cult classics such as The Last Broadcast and Ruggero Deodato’s infamous Cannibal Holocaust.
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