Game Camera (2013) (USA)

⭐️1/2

Disturbing chatter on lab-created biological agents opens up things and then a news report about a flying object crashing in Mount Spokane leads to unsettling footage caught by some dude filming his lady in the woods. The army claims they’re running some training exercises in the area and close it off to the public. The spot reopens and some local discovers a destroyed camera in the trees… this is the footage on said camera. A man heads out into the area with his buddy to record him deer hunting with his friends. So we get to watch as these real middle-aged dopes run into some unbelievable trouble in the middle of nowhere. Natural leader Brad brings along an AR-15 and the dudes have some fun blowing it off in the woods. As they march on through the forest, they find some odd liquid that Brad writes off as moldy pond water. There’s sad dad drinking, sad dad smoking, sad dad humor, sad dad machismo, sad dad reminiscing and sad dad political views filling up most of the runtime. It definitely fits the characters so it’s all works but if you’ve never been around sad dads, you may find it unbearable. The next day they freak out when they stumble across a camp which looks like it was home to one hell of a struggle. There may be no blood, but everything’s torn to shit and the hunters left their guns… not something a hunter would do. They also discover a game camera nearby and Brad decides they should look at what it caught. The photos show some mutated dude attacking a buck and then coming in for a close-up. Ron thinks it’s bullshit, Steve wants to leave, Tom is spooked and Brad thinks it’s their duty to find out what the hell is going on. Brad’s a blowhard so he acts like an asshole about it. Despite his tough guy bullshit, the group decides to head out the next day. They get ready to leave but Brad makes the decision that the trip ain’t over and journeys out into the woods with the truck keys and his AR-15. The group begrudgingly follow. Folks get sick, feelings get hurt and older white men die… so a standard hunting trip with the boys. It’s like Blair Witch Project but everyone is unlikable and having a midlife crisis and instead of a spooky threat you can’t see, it’s a space virus that mutates organisms into cheap-ass zombies you’ll wish you couldn’t see.