I saw a trailer for this movie when it first came out and really wanted to watch it. Didn't get to see it. Now I found it on BluRay and finally watched it.
I love this little group of directors that we all know from VHS: Adam Wingart, Ti West and Joe Swanberg. Haven't seen many movies by them but all I saw I liked.
The story is pretty standard: family in a house a little outside of the city. Then intruders attack. Nothing special here.
It's all about how it's done.
We of course have a survivor girl, Erin (Sharni Vinson) but in this movie she is tougher than in any other horror movie I've seen so far. She sets up traps a la Home Alone.
And when those traps (or any other attacks) happen, it is done very good. This movie is bloody where it needs it, but never too much blood. The gore effects are mostly practical, and I love practical effects. They are done really well, too, they look real.
Most of all this movie is fun though. It is not to be taken seriously. I had a blast watching it, because next to the scary moments and the shocking moments, there are also many funny moments. Mostly not full on fun but just moments that make you smile without taking away the scary feeling. Right in the beginning, two people are killed while a CD is put in and put on repeat. And when we go back to that house, that cd is still playing the same song, "Looking for Magic" which is by the way a fitting soundtrack in my opinion.
Then we have another character who just won't die no matter what, which makes one particular scene even more disturbing and scary, but throughout the movie makes you think "woah".
Then again we have a little meta-dialogue, when Jon Swanbergs character talks to Ti Wests character, who is an underground movie make (while they both are real life movie makers) about movies.
Also, there is a phone signal jammer.
Before I come to my conclusion I wanna mention one scene towards the end, because it looked just awesome. Erin set up a camera that takes pictures the whole time while the rest of the room is pitch black. So we have a long sequence with awesome lighting every few seconds. It's a visually awesome scene.
All in all I really enjoyed this movie. While it isn't scary in particular it's just fun to watch. The right amount of gore. Self awareness. Good acting. Just all in all a fun time. I give it 4 out of 5 stars and a big like.
Blender to the head.
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