Found Footage 3D (2016) Reviews

• Insipid FF Film is too self-aware for its own good

  sean-421992017-10-13

  I love found footage movies; I can find something good in the most incompetently-shot, horribly-acted found footage film. So let's get that out of the way: this movie has one really inspired scene of gore. The actors also do the best they can with what they're given - they are competent (particularly Beardy Sound Guy - love him), and they deserve better. Now, the bad: this movie, in an attempt to be edgy and self-aware, has its characters constantly pointing out the flaws in found footage movies. How they're all so terrible, how there's no reason to be filming all of this, how jump scares are dumb, and so on. It then goes on to indulge in all of those flaws, as though lampshading their use somehow forgives the filmmaker's transgressions. Spoiler: it does not. If this movie took those found footage tropes and turned them on their head, or put a novel spin on them, all of this winking at the audience could be forgiven. Instead, the filmmaker chooses to dutifully plod through FF clichés, to the point of lifting lines and shots from other, better films. They also commit the cardinal sin of naming better movies. Look, guys, if your movie sucks, you should not shout out to other movies -- it just reminds the audience that they could be spending their time with a better quality of entertainment. And, unfortunately, if you take out all of this winking and sneering, what you are left with is a very bland film. The scares are non-existent. The monster is the definition of boring. The characters are the worst kind of clichés, so much so that I don't know any of their names -- they are simply THE DOUCHE, THE PRIMA DONNA, THE QUIET GUY, THE DORK, THE OTHER GIRL, THE PRODUCER WHO INSISTED ON A SPEAKING ROLE, and Beardy Sound Guy, who I really liked. You'd think that as much time as the characters spend shouting out each others' names, one would have stuck, but nope. The best thing you can say about this film is that it is "competent". There are words, and they sound like they were spoken by humans. There are pictures, and you can generally see them. There is a location, and it looks like a place in the real world. But, honestly, I am willing to tolerate a bit of incompetence for some inventiveness, and that is one thing that this film SORELY lacks. I think I understand what they were going for, but for me, it didn't work. Unless the goal was to point out how bland, illogical, and uninspired found footage movies have become by making a bland, illogical, uninspired found footage movie...in which case, good job!

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• Found Footage 3D

  a_baron2017-11-15

  This is a film very much in the spirit of "The Blair Witch Project", the low budget effort that can properly be said to have started the genre. Quite likely it has a semi-improvised script, at least it certainly gives that impression. A small group of film-makers - professionals but far from A List - go out into the sticks to make the first ever found footage film in 3D. Almost from the very beginning, things start going wrong in their isolated cabin, leaving aside the fact that there are already certain tensions within the group, personal and sexual. The first question that must be asked is, this is a set up, right, most likely by the guy whose idea it was? Once that has been answered with a resounding no, things can only get worse, and they do. Not a lot more can be said, except that the viewer can expect a gorefest. The people behind this actual film deserve A for effort if not originality. The special effects are thematic, but don't expect to come away either satisfied or comprehending.

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• Scream for the found footage genre!

  theskylerroberts2018-03-27

  Found Footage 3D is a breath of fresh air for the found footage genre. My personal opinion is that the critical viewers missed the point of the movie. The film is supposed to break down the genre while adding in an element that in theory would make it worse. Yet, the joke is pulled off nicely and actually adds to the story. Granted, I haven't seen in 3D but those who have seem to think the 3D was a strongpoint of the film. Something I worry about is that this may be the nail in the coffin for found footage films. Similar to how Scream was for slasher films, after the deconstruction was done, there hasn't really been a resurgence with the exception of Hatchet and a some select remakes. I understand that the majority is sick of found footage, but I believe many films can benefit from them. I think of films like Cloverfield, VHS, and The Taking of Deborah Logan which were all great films and I don't think would have the same effect if they weren't found footage.

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• The title itself shows the lack of imagination in this project

  derekjager2017-10-31

  I saw the 2D version but any film must be told by the story, not the 3D gimmick. The cast is fine, the acting is fine. The problem is there is really no script. While everyone talks about making a GREAT FF film, they have no original idea. The script/story takes place in a cabin. Um, what? They think filming in 3D will make all the difference...but there is ZERO effort on their part to use the silly 3D gimmicks. You never hear or see them trying to make 3D scenes; throwing or poking stuff at the camera. It's so odd because that would have been fun/funny to see. Instead, there is some bad, splotchy CGI of a black ink stain wandering around. There is no backstory every given about this particular haunted cabin other than a guy killed his wife and left the body in the lake...or was that in the script? Regardless, it's never mentioned again, no watery ghost, etc. So we're left with them shooting scenes from a movie that has no plot we're able to follow, accidents happen that...are not explained or talked about much. Why does a shovel fall on a cast member? Why does one women get bloody scratch marks on her arm? Why do they go out drinking at a bar and when they return home and find some things "wrong" in the cabin? These are ll tropes used in FF films--and basic horror films--so it's clear they didn't even TRY to shake things up. The climax also is just what we expect, running in the woods in the dark, a final lunge at the camera by the monster. Because the acting is fine, I was engaged the first 40 mins but then sensed that was it; the premise was set up but they weren't going to do anything but make the same old same old FF film. Which is fine--I like them, but if you're going to boast about making some new and different, that deliver. Or at least try to. Beginning with the title.

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• Found Footage 3D Becomes Too Meta For It's Own Good

  ApocalypticDemise2016-08-23

  The big world premiere for Bruce Campbell's Horror Film Fest was Found Footage 3D, a film years in the making that had gained quite a bit of traction online. Does this film live up to the hype it has created or fall into the same troupes most films of this genre have? Found Footage 3D follows a small group of people wanting to make the first ever 3D found footage film, to make their place in the genre. When arriving at their film site which is a old cabin with a shady past they soon start to realize that there is something actually happening in that cabin to them turning their movie shoot into a actual horror found footage film. It's a simple enough premise and not something I'd call truly groundbreaking but what this film tries to do is almost spoof the found footage genre. They constantly call out the troupes of the genre in a joking or mocking fashion. The problem is that then the film falls right back into those troupes. You can't mock something so much then make the same mistake the films you are going at do. It's the case of being too meta for it's own good. It doesn't help either that so much of the film is just set ups, character developments, and a good amount of dialog that by the end when the events finally unfold that everything just goes to waste and feels rushed. Another big problem is like most 3D films I feel like this was just added so they could claim it as 3D. Only at the beginning when the characters were first toying with their new 3D cameras did any of it actually have a 3D feel to it. Otherwise it just gave the normal 3D effect of giving the film a more circular view instead of looking at it on a flat surface. The film will be able to claim itself as the first 3D film but I feel like it wasn't truly worth it. I will say as well that this is the only 3D movie ever to make me feel a little nauseous in a few scenes. The shaky cam along with 3D effects can be hard to take in as well as the few scenes involving two go pros. I will give it to the film however for having a few good gore scenes along with some very funny dialog. The characters banter between each other can be quite entertaining and is by far the biggest highlight of the film. It is humorous to hear them go on about the horrible things other films do and how to make their own better even if you only end up disappointed in the actions they take. I'll also give them credit for making me truly hate a character that being Derek (played by Carter Roy). (Also bonus points for Scott Weinberg). Unrelated to the review before the film director Steven DeGennaro did come and speak to a nearly sold out theater for the world premiere of his first full length film. After the movie a full Q&A was held by the director and full cast for the audience to ask about the making of the film. Overall I really went into this film with how hopes and instead left feeling like this was no better then all the other found footage films being released today. It just boiled down to unnecessary 3D, slow pacing, and being too meta for it's own good. Score : 3/10 https://apocalypticdemise.com/2016/08/23/found-footage-3d-review/

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