19/12/2016

The Den

             
Another interesting take on the found footage thing, 'The Den' is based around chat roulette site and creates a fairly believable horror despite a lot of it being somewhat run of the mill; especially the main characters, many of whom fall into the usual horror roles.
The premise of everything coming from a webcam (that was always very conveniently placed etc. - though this flaw wasn't as big big here as it is in many found footage films) was intriguing at first, but my interest started to wane towards the end, especially as the baddies' motives continued to go unexplained.
As the film came to a close though I was impressed by the final twist, which turned the whole thing into better social commentary than it was before. It felt kinda like a long 'Black Mirror' episode, though it struggled with pacing. I don't regret watching it though, and I recommend it. The anonymity of the villains ends up working in their favour, as it doesn't really matter who they are, just that they are at all.
               
                  
It was a little odd watching the whole thing on a laptop, as I had other windows open working on other shit, while the film itself featured almost continuously the screen of a computer with a load of windows open. They all use macs though – ew.
Oh yeah! And it was a nice surprise for this movie not to be about ghosts. My heart sank when that cupboard monster popped up, but I was prooved happily wrong when it turned out to be a prank.
                       
The Den: 46.7