It Almost Works

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2008)

The first 17 minutes of this movie are excruciatingly dull. After the first three minutes I was leafing through a magazine (I rented this, of course). There's a long party scene, but this is no GODFATHER or DEER HUNTER. A group of 20-somethings are holding a going-away party for a friend, and there's interminable footage of people gossiping and behaving normally. This is as interesting as watching your coat hang on the wall.
Finally, there's a big boom, and the action starts. The gimmick is that the guy videotaping the party keeps the video going, even when he's running for his life. Not only is this hard to swallow, but the camera zooms all over the place, or sits tilted to one side. The idea is obviously a gonzo monster movie, a you-are-there cross between GODZILLA and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
There are moments when this comes off, or almost comes off. You don't get a very good luck at the monster, or the little monsters that it generates. Nothing is explained, which I consider a plus; since none of the characters know what's happening, the audience doesn't need to know either. We're supposed to share in the characters' confusion and panic.
The reason it doesn't really work is that the characters are bland and vapid, the cinema verité effect of the wildly gyrating camera is more annoying than anything else, and there's nothing original in the script or the plot. It's routine fare.
It's OK for killing 90 minutes on a slow afternoon, but I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who managed to sit through this in a theater. This is definitely rental fodder.