A Morte Entra em Contato

I saw a brief trailer for this and I must admit I was enticed. A 'something went wrong' real-cam style horror has become big business since the Blair Witch truly terrified us in the 90s, and now plenty of 'found footage' efforts are to be found.

I honestly didn't have a clue what it was about, but the opening 15 minutes revealed it was about a 'Most Haunted' style TV show in which the presenters 'debunk' alleged hauntings. The first segment sees them do exactly that but Episode 50 turns out to be the last in the series...and it never made it to screen, because something went hideously wrong.

Unfortunately, the only thing which really went wrong was how badly this mess was put together. There was an underlying nugget of decent story, and there was even a loose attempt at a plot twist, but the problem with Episode 50 is it's simply hard to take seriously.

It's like a student project movie.

Yes, this is low budget, and yes, you have to account for that, but there really is no excuse for the agonising 'acting' throughout while forced (poor) special effects simply get in the way.

The actual direction isn't all that bad but another problem is that for a horror film, it isn't remotely scary. It is almost as if it isn't trying to be, and instead is trying to be some sort of ghost story with a religious overtone which gets thrown in the viewers' face every 2 minutes.

As for the music, another reviewer got it spot on - what in God's name was simpering piano doing in the background? This movie didn't need any music, but it got there anyway and ruined moments which were already pretty bad anyway.

And then a random Scotsman (from River City no less) shows up in a kilt, acts like he's on LSD, then leaves the room.

A badly conceived film which had a reasonable idea, but neither the budget, the cinematography, the acting, nor the production values were able to realise it.