A paranormal investigation at an abandoned location goes wrong and it’s all caught on camera. I wonder how many times I’ve written that or a variation on that sentence? Friends Kris and Celina are rerouted (thanks to Kris wanting to do something different and exciting) to a mysterious house in the middle of the woods that has never been investigated before. They’ll have to navigate an intensifying spooky journey through the woods and then a malicious force the likes of which they are ill-prepared to handle. It’s all caught on camera by their videographer Jay and the other equipment available to the wisecracking duo of ghost-chasing gals. The opening shot of a Venus flytrap alludes to what is going on. The loud and obnoxious protagonists allude to how irritated I’m going to be by the time those end credits hit. There’s a cameo from YouTube ghost hunters and notable frauds Sam and Colby which also diminished the good graces I’m willing to grant. There’s humorless comedy polluting the early going and I’m more than willing to admit I may be way too old to enjoy this abrasive social media “comedy”… all I’m saying is I have ended a bunch of YouTube videos a minute in because this loud nothingness just doesn’t work for me and this loud nothingness is front and center for far too long. And yes, we get one hell of a horrible ass-stain behind the camera. It takes a lot to get me to yell at my TV but I shouted “GOD, JUST SHUT UP!!!” more than once. There I am, showing my age again. The house is suitably creepy with plenty of space for shadows while also looking like it just kind of got stuck in time. It pretty much saves the movie from its unsympathetic protagonists. Now, the group separates leaving Kris alone in the house while Jay and Celina look for a dropped camera and something begins to make its presence known. The two come back to find her knocked out on the floor. Jay and Celina want out and Kris begrudgingly accepts that they go and spend the light in the van as long as they come back tomorrow. This leads to a bunch of confusion when they wake up in the house the next day, with no memory of how they got back in there. Celina is found in a hypnotic state and Kris is excited at the prospect of actually catching something supernatural on camera. They stay and things get much worse. The usual pseudoscience comes into play as they investigate but it’s a movie so I’m all for it and once they drop their bullshit theatrics the movie actually gets good. The supernatural shit is fun and well-realized (albeit well worn) even if we (or maybe just me) never come around to giving a shit about our victims-to-be. There’s enough to make it worth a look but don’t lose any sleep if you skip it and I don’t disagree with you if you flat out despise it.
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