This brings "run of the mill" to a new level.

Rating: 3/10 (22 October 2012)

This movie is so by-the-numbers, it's painful to watch. And you know, I actually understand clichés, and I believe a good artists must primarily know how (and why) to follow rules, but this film is basically a checklist of rules and clichés followed by the letter. List all the horror film clichés you can remember off the top of your head, and they'll all be here.
I still can forgive that, though. It's okay to follow conventions when you actually have good material to deliver, and when the material is delivered skillfully. But this movie wastes every bit of potential it has. There are some fine ideas here; for some reason, I always found there was something creepy and unsettling about Super 8 films, and this movie has a tendency (a tendency!) to explore that -- both the imaginary possibilities, as well as the physical aspects (the grainy image, the sound of the projector, etc.). But at every opportunity, the interesting things are merrily exchanged for some of the most gratuitous and pointless jump scares, and some of the most obnoxiously loud scare chords. I honestly think it's time for movie directors to get a severe beating and learn to STOP USING SCARE CHORDS! Every scare chord you hear in your life is the director admitting he is TOO INCOMPETENT TO USE THE IMAGERY TO SCARE YOU. I mean, isn't cinema a visual art? Aren't the images supposed to creep you out? So why are the scare chords even there? Instead of sucking the audience into the movie, it kicks them out, it detracts from the feeling, it ruins the immersion; and the effect is gone just a few seconds later.
And this is a shame, because there is some good imagery here. The "found footage" films are well made, but they're spoiled by some bizarrely stupid and exploitative soundtrack music (was that REALLY necessary?). But there are some "le artistique" scenes here that are borderline hilarious -- definitely a director trying too hard there. Also, we have to deal with Ethan Hawke's obnoxious twitching and overacting, the unnecessary "comic relief" character (I could see the actor was being earnest in his delivery, but that character was stupid), and other "checklist" moments. And why, WHY, did they have to throw Boards of Canada in this? (okay, so as a fan of Boards of Canada, it was certainly thrilling to hear Gyroscope in a movie theatre, but come on! That was a very shallow choice)
I definitely can picture a GOOD version of this movie. And I get irritated with the reviews that say that "despite the clichés, the film is good". It's exactly that attitude that makes horror films so ridiculous: the rotten core of the horror industry is taken as a given, as an unavoidable fact. This is a shame. Instead of spending money in making those "artistique" effects, the director should have tried to thwart those clichés for a REAL shock.