In the tradition of
Cloverfield, REC and
The Blair Witch Project the hand-held camera horror sub-genre has proven extremely popular in recent times. The latest entry,
Home Movie, sidesteps all of the fantasy elements of its predecessors and tells a story of a family gone awry that is a slow burning creepfest. The threat in this instance is all too human and the story unfolds to reveal the disturbing final moments that will stay with you for days.
Home Movie documents the private recordings of a seemingly perfect family. The happy parents (including
Heroes Adrian Pasdar as the father) seem to be in absolute devotion of their two children Jack and Emily. As the camera rolls it captures the increasingly strange behaviour of the brother and sister that appears to be bordering on homicidal rage.
The great:
The less I write about the story the better because the twists and turns are what make this film horrifyingly memorable. The cast of four is uniformly strong and creates a believable family on which to unleash the nightmare. Adrian Pasdar in particular gives a layered performance as a distraught father in search of any form of explanation as to the bizarre behaviour.
The good:
The director Christopher Denham masterfully builds on the sense of impending doom that becomes almost unbearable in the final frames. While not overtly scary the film is creepy in the most disturbing sense of the word.
The not-so-good:
The film does take its time developing the characters and story and this makes some moments feel uneventful and lag the overall pace. While instrumental in building to the shocking conclusion, the slow build up may turn a few viewers away.
This is one of the finest examples of low budget horror to come out in recent memory. Rather than using witches or giant aliens this film relies on human terror that can be much more distressing and upsetting. Given the generally poor quality of the genre it is refreshing to see that there is still hope out there for horror fans.
4 stars
Home Movie is screening as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival this Thursday, August 6 at 11.30pm at Greater Union.
For tickets and more information, head to the MIFF website.
Here's the trailer: