I believe that it is more difficult to make a good horror movie than other genres. Zach Beckler's "Interior" is an outstanding first film for the young filmmaker. He takes a simple story: One man - one night - one haunted house - and makes it new and fresh by infusing it with technology and technology driven humor. The basic plot is pretty standard - let's film a ghost in a modern haunted house. But the sounds and scares are excellent as the isolated filmmaker who is going to capture the "ghost" moves from skepticism to outright terror as the movie ramps up the scares.
Most effective was the use of multiple cameras filming the various rooms. This is not your typical "Paranormal Activity" use of cameras and film (talk about stale, that series should have stopped three movies ago). Beckler uses cameras to great advantage as ofttimes Sam (Christopher Carullo) is too frightened to even look in the next room - so he sticks the camera around the corner and snaps off a bunch of photos. The resulting photos are usually very unsettling and unusual.
The videos of Sam as he investigates the disturbances in the house are very disquieting as well.
The main actor, Christopher Carullo, does an excellent job as the filmmaker trapped in the house. He conveys a sense of tension that I have not seen since "High Tension" - one of my all time favorites.
My only concern was an overly long "black hole" sequence at the end. Not sure what was being portrayed - or why it seemed to go on forever (I was never a great fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey), but this is Beckler's first film, so no big criticism here.
Interestingly Beckler has also made a short which accompanies the full length feature called "Where is Alice?" - which is excellent and very artfully builds suspense and thinly disguises terror. You really should see both of them.
So I say "great first effort" to Zack Beckler. Unfortunately I do not know where to tell you to go to see these films - but if you can find them they are worth watching.
