Mike reviews the latest found footage nightmare, The Before Time, out this week on VOD.
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| Did we remember to save some of that peyote for the audience?! |
The found footage subgenre of horror is both wildly popular
and tricky to get right. Such films are
prevalent because they're generally inexpensive to produce (shot with handheld
cameras, no distracting major stars) and have an added element of tension that
traditional horror sometimes lacks. When
it works, and has imaginative filmmakers behind it, it can result in a fun and
well-made horror film (the original Blair Witch Project, [REC], Unfriended). Unfortunately these are rare cases, and the
result is usually a boring, unimaginative film that tries and fails to hide
behind a tiresome trope. The new release
The Before Time certainly belongs in the latter category.
In The Before Time, a sleazy producer brings together
two rival news crews to create a new reality show. The show would have the combined crew venture
into the California desert in search of legendary Navajo gold. As the crew makes its way into the desert,
they begin to learn the truth about the legend, and about the mysterious
murders that occurred there just weeks before.
The film is presented as footage shot by the crews assembled to create a
narrative that shifts from tension within the crews to a genuine fear of their
creepy and desolate surroundings.
Somehow this tension never really carries over to the audience, and the
whole affair ends up a bit dull.
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| This machete reboot looks terrible! |
There are splashes of creativity few and far between in The
Before Time. If you blink you might
miss them though, as they're a bit hard to spot in what is otherwise
essentially a Blair Witch Project ripoff. But what made Blair Witch work—or
rather, how they used the found footage trope effectively—was not so much
making you believe that what you were watching was real so much as creating
relatable moments of fear and tension, giving the audience an opportunity to
imagine themselves in that situation.
Nothing in The Before Time feels remotely close to this. Instead, found footage is used the way it is
used in so many horror films these days: to attempt and fail to mask a film
that isn't very good to begin with.
The Before Time is just another failed found footage
horror film, serving to clog any remaining market these films may have with
more unwelcome mediocrity. Found footage
can be a great technique if used in a clever or interesting way that enhances
and already compelling story. The
filmmakers behind The Before Time have not managed to figure that
out. Horror film fans would be better
served to skip this one and hold out for a more compelling, better quality
found footage film. Or perhaps they can
just watch Blair Witch again.
Don't be scared. Share.
Score
-Mike Stec