Hey kids, do you remember the found footage craze? Of course there was Paranormal Activity which led the charge with it’s imitators such as the Gallows, The Last Exorcism , and that god awful abomination The Devil Inside . But of course, Cloverfield and Diary of the dead and the ludicrous The Chernobyl Diaries showed the subgenre wasn’t exclusive to ghosts. This movie literally was invisible on my radar until I saw a good review for it that made me reconsider, so was it worth uncovering?
We begin with survivor and former TV anchor, Donna Thompson as she discusses the outbreak that decimated the bayside town of Claridge, Maryland. Through recovered footage, she narrates the mysterious events that killed over a thousand people in a weekend. Boils, lesions, missing tongues, and bodies seemingly rotting from within? But why? Questions unfold as the origin of the slaughter is a aquatic parasite and the origins develop, but can they be stopped before the whole town meets a gruesome end?
I basically knew nothing about this movie going in and honestly I was pleasantly surprised. The concept is pretty cool, and isn’t a zombie or ghost take. While there are jump scares, they aren’t cheap; I’m not ashamed to admit this movie got me at one point. The effects and gore are pretty convincing. Some of the stories I was pretty invested in and the story I was interested all the way through. My issue is how it’s presented at times. Sometimes the narration gets annoying, but at least it’s warranted here and the freeform nature of the movie is a bit disorientating at first but you do get used to it. In the end, this is a surprisingly cool found footage horror movie I’d say is worth checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
Savior Gaming 