So nearly brilliant

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2012)

I went into this film having heard good things about it, but knowing absolutely nothing of the plot or concepts. 20 minutes in I was absolutely gripped.
This film sets itself up as a fantastic parody of the increasingly repetitious and ridiculous teen horror genre. A predictable horror plot, with your stereotype horror characters behaving in the exact way we would expect them to, runs parallel to a brilliant 'explanation' behind these behaviours - the idea that horror films are essentially snuff films which are manipulated by 'puppeteers'. This concept that we are watching the creation of a horror film is perpetuated by throwaway comments such as that the puppeteers are not the only ones watching. And at the same time, the entertainment of watching the teenage protagonists die is ridiculed, as the puppeteers bet on outcomes, celebrate deaths, and orchestrate nudity for the sake of their own (and our) pleasure. This ridicule is not just aimed at the characters within the film, it's aimed at us - the voyeurs of this and every other horror film like the one being played out (how sick are we to get pleasure out of watching helpless, hopeless, characters die?!) The inclusion of brief glimpses of alternative scenarios playing out in different countries (in particular your stereotype Japanese horror scene), as well as the reference to common and more cult monsters, are an humorous addition to the criticisms the film makes. Genius. Hilarious.
Then it loses it...
As the film goes deeper and deeper into the reason behind the plot (which I won't go into), it becomes ridiculous and far too plain. What began as a (ok, not that subtle) clever parody on the monotony and depravity of horror films and their watchers, turns into a play of absurdity. The end scene which explains why each character was manipulated as they were was entirely unnecessary - anyone who is enough of a cinephile to understand and enjoy the clever characterisations does not need an explanation, and anyone who doesn't get it won't enjoy it any more for it being explained. Moreover, pulling the teenagers out of their 'set' into the real world, revealed a lack of any deeper characterisation than we had already seen, and as such destroyed the message the film was trying to put across.
If I could, I would erase the last half hour of the film from my memory. Without that last half hour, it would have been brilliant.