Atrocious (2010)

Atrocious

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Notice: No spoilers beyond basic expository information.

Overview: An unparalleled control of found footage basics informs this clever spin on the classic formula. A true and formidable successor to The Blair Witch Project. Atrocious is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.

Three kids and their mom take a trip to a secluded summer home, right next to a big ole' labyrinth. An old legend states that if you get lost in the labyrinth at night, the ghost of Melinda will lead you out, and the kids want to film a self-styled documentary about her. Think you've heard this one before? Well, maybe you have. But Atrocious adds enough, and deviates enough, and executes itself well enough to stand on its own as a classic of found footage.

Even while I was scared shitless, which was quite often, I couldn't help repeating in my head "wow, this is a good feeling." What feeling, you might ask? The feeling that comes from a watching a found footage film where the filmmakers intrinsically understand what makes found footage good in the first place. It's been a long time since I've seen a found footage film that properly handles itself. I had seen so many midlevel entries into the genre since then, I forgot how amazing it was when you stumble upon a film that does it unmitigatingly right. There are so many mediocre films out there, I had honestly thought that I might be getting tired of found footage! Ahaha, oh my. Atrocious was brilliant.

The premise may mirror Blair Witch quite unsqueamishly, but the two films' respective atmospheres are well removed. The hedge maze labyrinth of Atrocious is a very different beast from the sprawling pines of Blair Witch. And without giving away too much, don't expect the story arcs to match either.

What sets Atrocious so far apart from its peers is its flawless command of the fundamentals. The fundamentals are what define any good found footage film, and a failure to grasp the fundamentals will invariably break one. But Atrocious nails it. The setting, god the setting, it's old school creepy. Their basement is full of stone walls and unsettling clutter, the labyrinth is full of gorgeously utiliized ancient stone benches and pyres and so forth, all of which give me the willies. The camera direction is spot-on, invoking [REC]'s unnerving corridors and the terrifying, shaking uncertainty cultivated by the masters of subtlety in The Wicksborro Incident.

Bottom line, Atrocious will never be quite as flawless as The Blair Witch Project, but there's no shame in being beaten by the best. There are a lot of good found footage films out there, however in the last few years these films have made their name by eschewing the formula rather than mastering it. [REC] was action-packed rather than slow-burning, V/H/S is the first notable anthology of the genre, and so on.

Atrocious doesn't do that, Atrocious makes its name by being able to weild this old form with genuine skill. The classic found footage formula is what got me into this genre, and at the end of the day there is nothing I like to see more. Problem is, despite how utterly simple it seems, most filmmakers fall flat on their face when attempting to copy it. Meanwhile Atrocious hits nearly every salvo with apparent ease, and for that it is superb.

I didn't even realize quite how much Atrocious had scared me until I went to bed that night and had a nightmare about it. This is a film that really stayed with me. Originally I was thinking of giving it 4 & 1/2 stars, but after noticing that it scarred me for life, I have to bump it up to 5. (I'm of course exaggerating, it only scarred me for a day..... so far. And I watched it yesterday.)