I saw
The Taking of Deborah Logan on Netflix. It was OK, but not the best horror flick I've seen. The found footage aspect of the movie was not completely necessary. Some ideas were stolen from the
Paranormal Activity movies, and others were simply gimmicky. I understand they tried to be different by making these a student documentary instead of a home movie or a security tape, but in some parts it didn't make much sense. Why did the diegetic filmmakers create cool 3D graphics when their footage was basically unusable as a PhD thesis film? Was this done by Adam Robitel (the director) in order to differentiate his film from other found footage films?
The plot was not something new or exciting, although it was interesting to see a creepy old person instead of the clich? creepy child (unfortunately, the film did have one of those, but she did not out-spotlight Deborah Logan). Jill Larson (Deborah) was incredible in this, I believe her performance was what made this movie worthwhile, and I loved Anne Ramsey in
Mad About You so that was fun.
This movie could have been so much better if the writers focused more on the story and less in the gimmicky security videos and the lame jump scares. There was a scene where a face was visible during a jump scare for no particular reason, and it was baffling to me why it was there. To save you some time from watching it, here is the most exciting/creepy shot. I warn you, it might be incredibly disturbing:
If you like scary movies and don't really care about plot or anything silly like that, then watch it. If you truly want to be immersed in a movie's lore, then I'd recommend something else.
***/*****