One Trick Pony

Rating: Null/10 (15 October 2011)

Ah, 'Blair Witch'. Nothing will touch you. This film, though, tries. Succeeds...a little. Essentially, one thing, and one thing only, works here, and it's a spin on the hand-held footage genre: the bedroom filming. This truly is suspense, for the seconds count away and you look from the door to the bed, back to the door and the hallway, waiting. It's wonderful. It's just too bad that a better film weren't wrapped around it. Micah and Kate are OK, and do the 'real' thing adequately. Yes, you wonder: mid-twenties, she's a student, he's a day trader, and they have this really nice three-bedroom house? And why would even young people with some money rent/own a three-bedroom? How is it always beautifully clean? It's like porn, when you realize the set is the producer's actual house; no couple that young would have the spare bedrooms so nicely furnished, or the collection of outdoor furniture clearly gathered over years. Then - after a certain point, there's no way they're not getting some help there. Surely there's more than one demonologist in CA? Or: maybe, after the thing drags her out of the bed by the ankles, it might be smart to sleep in turns. Or arrange to have friends over at various times, in shifts. Or put a tent in the yard, see what the beastie can do outdoors. Or, if you must sleep together, MAYBE HAVE KATIE SWITCH SIDES SO SHE'S NOT EXPOSED TO THE DOOR. All this is what drove me crazy, because the potential was there. I just can't accept that the returning ghost hunter, terrified of being inside that house, would tell Katie that his demonologist friend will be 'back in a few days', or that Micah, after the night of the footprints and photograph, tells K that there's no need to call in expert help. All in all, the real scare is how your own imagination wishes you were making this, because so much could've been done to bring on subtle, realistic terror. Last word: skip the alternate ending. The theatrical one is far, far better.