Evidence (2012)

A negligible found-footage film which doesn't bring anything new to the genre and which - even at 74 minutes - feel interminable.

Found footage films can be very good - The Blair Witch Project, obviously, and I have a guilty fondness for the first Hell House LLC film.  They can be notable for innovation, essentially setting up the rules of the genre, like The MacPherson Tape and the mighty, repulsive yet glorious Cannibal Holocaust.  Or they can just be a bit rubbish, like Evidence.

Happy campers. Have these guys never seen any found footage films?

The stereotype of the found footage film is that it is what wannabe film makers do when they lack ideas, creativity and cinematic skill.  That's usually unfair because making something that looks like amateur handheld rubbish while still keeping it watchable, making sure the camera is actually pointing at the right thing at the right time, and making everything audible is actually difficult.  Even when you try to make your found footage good, it often ends up being really, really bad.

Evidence, directed by Howie Atkins, is that sort.  The second one.

It falls into two parts - a very Blair Witch Project style camping excursion going wrong first half, and a kinda 28 Days Later meets Cloverfield second part, where a couple of the less unfortunate (for now) campers are pursued by mysterious creatures, desperately trying trying to work out what the fuck is going on.  As are we.

The good: there is something relentlessly bloody-minded in Askins' style in the second half, which is a near-real time hunt and chase sequence.  The refusal to do anything other than pursue the characters through a series of confusing, underlit locations, confusing and boring the audience is ... bold, though perhaps even I wish for a bit more narrative and exposition, rather than just continual rushing hither and yon, screaming and panting.  Surely one of the soldiers who appear inexplicably could have found time to gasp a few lines explaining what is going on?

Askins does manage to pull off some half-decent suspense scenes as the characters rush about in the dark woods - at one point I'll admit just a SHAKING BUSH made me startle.  And there is a sequence in the camper van which does show some flair - even if loud noises isn't exactly cutting edge innovation in the horror genre, doing it well still takes skill.

The bad: we have bene here before.  Many films have done this, and done it better.  A bunch of dimwits blundering about the woods, jumping at creepy noises is such a cliche, post Blair Witch Project the only way it doesn't feel like a cop out is assuming it is ironic, but there isn't any evidence to support that.  The script is repetitive and banal - perhaps some would say realistic but there can be too much 'realism'; and the characters are dull, indistinct and unlikeable.

Nice framing.  Note portentous writing in the background.

And why are there lots of ominous sounding words carved into the trees in the woods?  I mean, who did that?  Why?  If you're being chased by mysterious shaggy monsters you aren't going to stop to carve 'LISTEN' into a sapling.  Are you?

The narrative - as far as I've been able to discern it - doesn't really make much sense (why would thee be a Mysterious Secret 'Restricted Facility' in the middle of some random woods with no fences or apparent perimeter security?); characters make really odd choices (even by the standards of horror films) that keep tipping them into danger - let's open the door / window / abandon the comparative safety of our camper van and let's not, under any circumstances, pick up a stick to hit things with!

Pretty much the only time any of the characters does anything remotely sensible.  When in doubt, pick up a hammer.

Towards the end there is a sense of maybe some sort of explanation coming ... But instead we get an irritating credits sequence with teasing cut backs to what we anticipate might be the longed for reveal ... but it never happens.  It seems it's just to get us to watch the credits - which are the most professional looking part of the whole thing.

The aesthetic of the final 20 minutes or so is like a first person shooter video game - one where the player is making their umpteenth attempt to complete a section and moves so quickly through the zones it's hard for an observer follow what is going on.  There is point where you wonder if narrative and stylistic incoherence is really a deliberate ploy and actually just incompetence.  I'm not saying Askins is incompetent - he has a impressive enough resume of low budget productions and a likeable do-it-yourself ethic.  But here he treads a line so close to botching it that you wonder if this was, in fact, what he was trying to achieve or if he just botched it.

Star Rating: *