My Little Eye (2002)

You really can’t seem to flip channels without coming across some reality show. Whether you are Keeping Up with the Kardashians, hanging with The Girls Next Door, taking in Deadliest Catch or another one of the hundreds of reality shows, there is a glut of reality programming that shows no signs of slowing down. Are we really that obsessed with watching other people’s lives instead of living our own?

Our reality show contestants in My Little Eye certainly hope that’s true, especially since they’ve entered in a contest where they must survive six months in an isolated, creepy old house with every second of their tenure there filmed for an eager, voyeuristic audience. At the end of the six months, they will all get a nice paycheck of $1 million…but there’s a catch. If any of them leave before the six months are up, then none of them get any of the dough.

The film picks up during the last week or so of their six month sentence, and everyone is particularly antsy. Snow is falling thick and heavy outside and supplies are dwindling. Not to mention that the myriad of cameras installed within the house follow their every move. With just mere days to go, strange things start happening. One of the guys gets a letter saying his grandpa has died and funeral services will be held before his time on the show is up. Another girl finds an eerie phrase from her childhood written on one of the windows and a bloody hammer in her bed. The group begins receiving strange “supplies” – like a box of bricks and a loaded gun. Then, a lost skier stumbles upon their house and claims he’s never heard or seen anything about their reality show. Is the reality show company responsible for these strange occurrences? Are they trying to trick them out of their hard-earned cash? Is it all being done to boost ratings? Or is something more sinister going on?

Horror films that feature a reality show usually don’t fare too well (see Halloween: Resurrection), but My Little Eye is different. It is full of tension, interesting characters and an intriguing storyline that will have you guessing until the end. Though it starts slow, with the group suffering from cabin fever from being cooped up in a house all this time, it does a good job in slowly building dread. Things just get creepier and creepier, until the satisfying ending that will just leave you saying, “wow…”

I also love how the film is shot and all the action is captured on the cameras that are wired throughout the house. Whether the action occurs in creepy green-tinged night vision or is seen through a grate in the bathroom, it really gives the film a voyeuristic edge, almost as if you were watching a snuff film. I’m not sure what the logistics were in the shooting of the film, but it truly does look like it was all shot on those security cameras! Fantastic job by director Marc Evans!

The story, written by David Hilton and James Watkins (Eden Lake and the upcoming The Descent 2), is a slow-burn but one that immediately sucks you in, especially when strange occurrences start happening and the pace picks up. There are also a few nice surprises toward the end that caught me off guard and grab your attention!

The characters are all pretty likable or at least interesting. There’s bad-boy Rex (Kris Lemche), sexy Charlie (Jennifer Sky), all-American Matt (Sean CW Johnson), sensitive Danny (Stephen O’Reilly) and skittish Emma (Laura Regan). Their interactions and relationships with each other ring true and it really does feel like they’ve been roommates for the last 5+ months. Each of them has their own dark secrets, which slowly come to light as they are tested in their last week or so of the show.

The acting was surprisingly great, with all the actors giving solid, believable performances. Laura Regan really gave a stand-out performance as the fragile Emma, but the rest of the cast was equally impressive. There is even an appearance by Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, Midnight Meat Train) where he plays the lost skier. It was quite a pleasant surprise to see him in this film!

Now, this film is more about building tension than showering the audience with blood, so there isn’t that much gore. Again, though, this doesn’t hurt the film at all! Instead, when the grue finally does show up at the end of the movie it makes much more of an impact than had it been shown throughout the entire film! There is one particularly nasty scene at the end involving someone’s head getting unexpectedly blown open that is really an “oh sh*t!” moment!

My Little Eye is a suspenseful film that relies on the mystery of the characters’ situation to keep your attention. Its slow-burn works extremely well in building up a tremendous amount of tension, and it also helps that we actually care about the characters and want to know as much as they do who is pulling the strings and behind the strange occurrences. Not too many people have seen this movie, and that’s quite a shame! It is a gem of a horror movie that deserves more fans!

What do I spy with My Little Eye? A fantastic horror movie, that’s what! Now go check it out!

Available from Amazon!

Evil Things (2009)

Let me take you back a few weeks to me standing in from of the mailbox, perplexed by a package stamped “official business” and with a return address of the FBI! My first thought was, “They’re onto me!”, but inside the package was an evidence baggie containing a DVD marked “confidential”. Along with the DVD was a very official-looking letter asking for my  help in a missing persons case. At this point I thought, “Whew! At least this doesn’t have to do with that unfortunate ‘incident’!” As I read the letter, I quickly clued into the fact that this was the marketing package for the indie film Evil Things. I remembered watching the trailer, which intrigued me but didn’t stand out all that much, but the clever marketing materials and packaging really made me eager to check out the film.

I popped in the “evidence” and sat back for what was to come. The film starts with five friends from New York City leaving the wintry confines of the city and heading upstate for a fun, relaxing weekend. It’s Mirian’s (Elyssa Mersdorf) birthday, and her aunt has let her use her isolated vacation house for a party with four of her friends – couple Cassy (Laurel Casillo) and Mark (Morgan Hooper), bratty Tanya (Torrey Weiss) and amateur film student Leo (Ryan Maslyn) who insists on filming everything with his hand-held camera. Before they even get there, though, they have to make it upstate through a treacherous snow-storm. Not only that, but some asshole in a van keeps messing with them and later it appears that he is following them. When they finally arrive at Miriam’s aunt’s house, everyone is relieved and they start to celebrate!

The next morning they all decide to trek out into the snow-covered woods to find some caves. When it becomes apparent that they are lost, they try to find their way back to the house…but they keep getting turned around. As night falls and they are still lost, they begin hearing strange noises just outside the beams of their flashlights. After being spooked, they finally find the house again…but what awaits them when they are inside is much more sinister than they could have ever imagined.

It seems as if the “found footage” technique is being used a lot in horror nowadays. From Cloverfield, [REC], The Blair Witch Project to Diary of the Dead, this technique really does work if done properly, especially since we are now a YouTube generation where anyone can have their 15 minutes of fame. While some might jump the gun and instantly compare Evil Things to the grandaddy of all hand-held camera films, The Blair Witch Project, I would ask that you hold off comparisons until AFTER you watch Evil Things. While it might share some similarities to Blair Witch, Evil Things is still a frightening, effective film that just begs to be seen! I thought the idea to shoot the film on handheld camcorder was pretty genius, especially considering the small budget filmmaker Dominic Perez had to work with. I also liked how the scary scenes came out of nowhere, and while you never really “see” anything, the sounds and reactions of the characters are enough to make you crap your pants!

Though the last 30 minutes or so of the film are incredibly tense, I felt that the first hour of the film dragged on and on. The scenes of them driving to the aunt’s house went on far too long and really should have been edited down. However, I did enjoy the mounting tension when they kept seeing the van that had been harassing them. The characters reactions to seeing the van repeatedly really felt genuine. One thing I will say about the first hour is that you really get a feel for the characters. They are just a group of normal-looking college kids and they have enough personality to make them all likable and stand out. I also liked several funny scenes that were in the film, including one where they all bust in on Leo taking a bubble bath, turning his camera on him and another scene where Cassy dons a wig that was lying around the house and pretends to be Leo’s mother. These kind of scenes really make the characters endearing and that much more sympathetic when the terror sets in…

As for the actors, they all did an amazing job. Usually in indie films the acting is the worst part of the film, but in Evil Things it was one of the best. Every single actor felt natural, like they really were just a bunch of people being filmed by their friend during a vacation. As mentioned above, all the actors were likable and you really didn’t want them to succumb to “evil things”.

When the terror does arrive it is unrelenting and very frightening. We get the first clues that something is amiss with the creepy van following the group and again with the eerie noises in the woods, but the sh*t really hits the fan when they get back to the house towards the end of the film. Here, they realize they are not alone and haven’t been for a while. Though nothing is explicitly seen, everything, from the terrified reactions of the characters to slamming doors to strange noises to creepy camera angles, keeps the atmosphere tense and you on the edge of your seat. The finale will leave your jaw hanging wide open and wondering exactly what just happened, while scenes that roll over the credits ensure that the terror continues.

Writer and director Dominic Perez has done a fantastic job with Evil Things. The story, the direction, the location and the scare tactics were near perfect and make this an exciting film to watch. I do think the title isn’t descriptive enough of the film and is too generic. Still, despite that Evil Things is definitely a must-see! What makes it even creepier is that Perez was inspired to make this film after an incident he experienced as a young child:

“The inspiration for this movie came from an incident in my own life when I was a 10 year old boy.  I was sleeping over a childhood friend’s house and his mom left us home alone for a few hours while she was out working late.  So we stayed up eating ice cream and watching TV.  Then a knock came at the door.  We were taught never to open the door to strangers so we politely asked, ‘who is it?’  There was no answer.  We looked through the peephole, but it was broken.  Another knock came at the door.  We said louder ‘yes, who is it?’  There was still no answer.  We could see under the crack of the door that someone wearing big black boots was standing still on the other side of the door, but they never answered.  There was just a soft terrifying knock knock that came every 30 seconds.  After about the fifth knock knock we were screaming at the top of our lungs ‘who the F**K is it?’  I have never been so incredibly scared in my entire life.  There was never an answer, just silence for 10 terrifying minutes.  That was more than 30 years ago, and I’m still scared to death wondering what would have happened had we opened that door.”

The creepiness of that incident translates extremely well to Evil Things and despite some of its flaws it is one of the most gripping and frightening indie films I’ve seen this year!

The film is currently seeking distribution and has been submitted to various film festivals, so jump at the chance if you get to see it!

Buy on Amazon!

For more info and lots of extra goodies, visit Evil Things’ Official Website!

Alone With Her (2007)

"1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetimes."

"1.4 million people are stalked every year in the United States."

"76% of women killed by their intimate partners were stalked before they were killed."

These are just a few of the distasteful facts about stalkers that are revealed at the beginning of Alone With Her. As a woman, the dangers of "peeping toms" and stalkers have always been prevalent, but technology today is making it easier than ever for anyone to purchase cheap and tiny video cameras that can be hidden in alarm clocks, cell phones, pens, plants, teddy bears, eyeglasses, hats and clothing.

Doug (Colin Hanks) enjoys bumming around town, hidden camera shoved into a bag, and video taping women without their knowledge. He loves taping scantily-clad sunbathers at the beach, up girls’ skirts and down their tops at the store and the occasional pretty dog-walker at the park. It’s at the park that he first sees Amy (Ana Claudia Talancon) and is attracted to her vulnerability after she gets teary-eyed when watching a touchy-feely couple. Doug feels some kind of twisted connection to her, so he follows her home and bugs her house with tiny cameras – in the bathroom, in the bedroom, on the patio and in the living room. He watches her day and night, learning all her secrets, all her likes and dislikes and her schedule until he deems himself ready enough to meet her face-to-face in a “chance” encounter. The nebbish Doug manipulates Amy and uses his knowledge of her to infiltrate her life. After they become acquaintances at the coffee shop Amy frequents, Doug puts himself in a position to continually come to Amy's rescue. A budding artist, Doug designs her a site where she can feature her paintings and also gets her a gallery showing, where she sells her first pieces of art. Yet, when a new man comes into Amy's life or a concerned friend gets the heebie jeebies from him, he makes sure to clear the pathway so nothing and no one will interrupt his pursuit of her. He even goes so far as to get Amy fired, poison her, make her violently ill and give her a severe allergic reaction with a substance he puts on her sheets. How far is Doug willing to go to fulfill his obsession?

Alone With Her is an intelligent, socially aware film that scared me enough to lock all the doors, close all the blinds and peer suspiciously at my alarm clock as the end credits rolled. There's no doubt that after viewing this film you too will have these severe, paranoid reactions!

The entire film is viewed through Doug's network of hidden cameras. We watch along with Doug as Amy takes a shower, does her makeup, talks on the phone with her mom, speculates with her friend, plays with her dog or plays with herself. Even when Doug encounters her in real life he is wired to tape her every move. Writer/director Eric Nicholas and cinematographer Nathan Wilson wisely chose to give the film an all-too-real and immediate feel as they present the story through the hidden cameras. The result is an unsettling and even dirty feeling that settles over the viewer (and voyeur). I can tell you that after watching this film I felt like I needed a shower! The hidden cameras are invasive and the random static that pops up occasionally never lets us forget that we are trespassing into someone's private life. In fact, this invasion of privacy makes you yourself feel vulnerable and exposed, which gives you all the more reason to sympathize with Amy.

The performances in the film, by both Colin Hanks and Ana Claudia Talancon, are remarkable. Colin Hanks plays against his typical "aw shucks" character as the detached voyeur and obsessive stalker. Hanks as Doug, with his seemingly emotionless voice and twisted logic, is scarier than Michael, Freddy, Jason and Leatherface put together. He is real and he is out in the world, perhaps outside your window right now. Ana Claudia Talancon is vivacious, expressive and gorgeous as Amy. She comes across as natural and someone I would genuinely like to know in real life. This makes her situation all the more tragic and makes us really feel for her throughout the entire ordeal.

The script is never forced, but moves along at a slow yet natural pace. There is no gore, just a slowly building sense of dread as Doug moves in closer and closer to his prey. Let me tell you, though, the dread is almost palatable as the film nears its finale. By this point, I had grown so close to Amy's character that I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle the little twerp as he kept invading and messing with her life. When the film finally concludes with the inevitable, I felt sad, scared and disturbed.

Alone With Her hopes to bring to attention the voyeuristic society we live in. Reality shows rule the boob tube and we are told the government is always watching, so how soon before we start incorporating voyeurism into our own lives? Part cautionary tale, part wake-up call, Alone With Her succeeds in creating an unsettling, uncomfortable, and fear-soaked film with a message.

It comes highly recommended from yours truly.

Available from Amazon!