I'm sorry. I know I'm in some sort of minority about this movie, but frankly I think it was terrible.
The first part of the movie was pretty poorly written and the acting wasn't terribly much better. Far too much of this movie was told to us instead of shown, which is a surefire way to make you not care about characters that the finale requires you to care about. If a character has to tell you that they're broken, instead of you seeing it revealed through their own actions and the revelation of those weaknesses... even the revelation of their awareness of those weaknesses, then you haven't made me feel for the characters inherent sadness.
"I'll pretty much do anything as long as you tell me you love me," should be a heart breaking revelation... but it wasn't earned one bit. It just fell flat and made me say "okay, so she's broken.... what a stereotype".
Frankly I think making this a found footage film was a mistake. While I'm sure it was done to try to bump the realism factor, the genre itself is so limiting that it forces awkward scenes and also some very strange moments like Megan and Amy doing some sort of video chat on their phones when they're literally on their way to each other (apparently a very short distance). It also forces one to question who in the film was recording all of these Skype sessions and why were they recording them?
Moving beyond that, crucial points in the film are also gaping plot holes. When the Amy character finally goes to the police about Megan's possible kidnapper (after strangely not telling them about him earlier, you know, before the odds of her being alive shrink dramatically) they plaster her name and face all over the news. I'm sorry, but that sort of thing does not happen. Additionally, if all of Megan's Skype sessions were recorded, wouldn't the police know about Josh before hand? Also, if Josh is going around posting photos of Megan on message boards, then there's obviously a way to track him. Unless we're expected to believe that Josh is not only a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, but also a computer whiz.
None of it adds up, but it's all crucial to the plot.
Finally, let's talk about those last 22 minutes.
I'm sorry, but if you're deeply disturbed by those last 22 minutes, you have missed A LOT of films in the last 40 or so years. The last 22 minutes felt way too sanitized, likely because of the characters ages, when held up against things like the original Last House on the Left or even the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (watching the attack scenes in those films, I felt I needed a shower afterward just to feel clean. Last House particularly felt so much like a snuff film when I first saw it, it took a long time for me to watch it again). She's kept prisoner, raped and then stuffed in a barrel with, yeah you saw it coming a mile away, her dead friend. Then we sit through a man digging a whole for 10 minutes while Amy, clearly not seeing where this is going, tries to talk her way out of the barrel.
This all leads to a big problem with the climax- Amy never really seems to take her situation seriously. She never does anything but scream at Josh. She seems to think that "if you let me go I won't tell anyone" will be taken seriously. To top it off, even during the brief moments in these last 22 minutes when she's not chained up, Amy makes absolutely no attempts to escape. At one point there is clearly a jagged piece of metal a few inches from her head, and she never goes for it... she just keeps crying for help.
Seriously?
I'm sorry, but this film just doesn't work. It expects you to find it's subject matter shocking and disturbing because it's made its characters 14 years old (though the actress who played Megan looked far older then 14). This fails because unless you sell me on what I'm watching, just telling me that this person is a specific age will not make me engaged during their problems later in the film. It doesn't engage a willing suspension of disbelief. Make me care up front, or when I need to care... it'll be too late.
I get what the filmmakers were going for, and I applaud the effort. I think that if they hadn't tried to cash in on the "found footage" boom that's been going on, they may have made a much more engaging and effective film. A film that makes you care, instead of expecting you to care because adult actors are playing characters of a certain age.
The first part of the movie was pretty poorly written and the acting wasn't terribly much better. Far too much of this movie was told to us instead of shown, which is a surefire way to make you not care about characters that the finale requires you to care about. If a character has to tell you that they're broken, instead of you seeing it revealed through their own actions and the revelation of those weaknesses... even the revelation of their awareness of those weaknesses, then you haven't made me feel for the characters inherent sadness.
"I'll pretty much do anything as long as you tell me you love me," should be a heart breaking revelation... but it wasn't earned one bit. It just fell flat and made me say "okay, so she's broken.... what a stereotype".
Frankly I think making this a found footage film was a mistake. While I'm sure it was done to try to bump the realism factor, the genre itself is so limiting that it forces awkward scenes and also some very strange moments like Megan and Amy doing some sort of video chat on their phones when they're literally on their way to each other (apparently a very short distance). It also forces one to question who in the film was recording all of these Skype sessions and why were they recording them?
Moving beyond that, crucial points in the film are also gaping plot holes. When the Amy character finally goes to the police about Megan's possible kidnapper (after strangely not telling them about him earlier, you know, before the odds of her being alive shrink dramatically) they plaster her name and face all over the news. I'm sorry, but that sort of thing does not happen. Additionally, if all of Megan's Skype sessions were recorded, wouldn't the police know about Josh before hand? Also, if Josh is going around posting photos of Megan on message boards, then there's obviously a way to track him. Unless we're expected to believe that Josh is not only a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, but also a computer whiz.
None of it adds up, but it's all crucial to the plot.
Finally, let's talk about those last 22 minutes.
I'm sorry, but if you're deeply disturbed by those last 22 minutes, you have missed A LOT of films in the last 40 or so years. The last 22 minutes felt way too sanitized, likely because of the characters ages, when held up against things like the original Last House on the Left or even the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (watching the attack scenes in those films, I felt I needed a shower afterward just to feel clean. Last House particularly felt so much like a snuff film when I first saw it, it took a long time for me to watch it again). She's kept prisoner, raped and then stuffed in a barrel with, yeah you saw it coming a mile away, her dead friend. Then we sit through a man digging a whole for 10 minutes while Amy, clearly not seeing where this is going, tries to talk her way out of the barrel.
This all leads to a big problem with the climax- Amy never really seems to take her situation seriously. She never does anything but scream at Josh. She seems to think that "if you let me go I won't tell anyone" will be taken seriously. To top it off, even during the brief moments in these last 22 minutes when she's not chained up, Amy makes absolutely no attempts to escape. At one point there is clearly a jagged piece of metal a few inches from her head, and she never goes for it... she just keeps crying for help.
Seriously?
I'm sorry, but this film just doesn't work. It expects you to find it's subject matter shocking and disturbing because it's made its characters 14 years old (though the actress who played Megan looked far older then 14). This fails because unless you sell me on what I'm watching, just telling me that this person is a specific age will not make me engaged during their problems later in the film. It doesn't engage a willing suspension of disbelief. Make me care up front, or when I need to care... it'll be too late.
I get what the filmmakers were going for, and I applaud the effort. I think that if they hadn't tried to cash in on the "found footage" boom that's been going on, they may have made a much more engaging and effective film. A film that makes you care, instead of expecting you to care because adult actors are playing characters of a certain age.