Atrocious

Christian and July are young paranormal investigators. They take a couple of cameras around to cover local urban legends and try to find some evidence of the truth. They have done a few internet episodes covering various paranormal places in their area with decent results. Now, as the Holy Week approaches, Christian and July's family decides to go on vacation. They plan to visit the old family house, which as it just so happens, has its own paranormal legend surrounding it. The Legend of the Girl in the Garraf woods.

A little into the movie, a family friend visits them in the home and the kids question him about the legend. As the story goes, Melinda was a young girl who was wandering the grounds hedge maze. She came upon a well, only to fall in. She was never found or recovered. People claim that if you get lost in the maze, Melinda will appear and guide you out. Various versions of the legend exist, some painting Melinda as a benevolent force helping guide those that are lost, other see her as a thing of evil or possibly the devil in disguise, leading those that are lost to their doom never to be seen again. Of all the tales, they all share that if she appears behind you you will never forget the sound. "Survivors" claim to have heard it only to be haunted by it the rest of their lives.

With this information in hand, Christian and July decide to investigate the maze. They squeeze their way through a small opening in the locked gate and explore. Christian leaves behind marks so they can find their way back, what they find is a normal hedge maze. Over grown from years of neglect, some parts have become almost impossible to navigate. They get a little turned around on their way back but eventually find their way. They stop a little before the exit, noticing something odd in the distance past some overgrowth. Its hard to tell, but it looks like a girl, her back to them, balled up. They leave and quickly check the tape.

That night, Christian rigs the camera to his laptop and focuses it on the entrance to the maze. Their dog is seen barking and staring into the maze, pacing back and forth, growling. The next morning he is gone. They look around for a bit, but find nothing. They reassure their little brother Jose that everything will be fine and check the tape. Nothing. It went dead. July thought the idea was dumb and some time in the night unplugged the camera. They have nothing to go on now and decide to check the maze for their dog. Inside they find spots of blood. They follow them and as they go deeper into the maze the spots become a trail. They continue on, sobbing and full of fear, and eventually come to the well. Its smeared with gore, small pieces of flesh and entrails sticking to its edge. Christian peers down and see their dog. They run back home, wondering what to tell their mother, what to tell Jose.

They tell Jose that they found nothing, to not worry, everything will be alright. In the morning, things are not alright. Jose is gone. The children and their mother search frantically. Night soon falls, Jose still gone, when they decide to search the maze...

The movie spirals from here, its tense, full of suspense. Its does a great job making you feel the dread as the kids walk the black paths of the maze with only the night vision on their cameras to guide them. We hear sounds, see things, and don't see things. Its good. Despite how great it is and how well it works, this is where my complaint comes in. Movies recently have foregone amazing cinematography on favor of these "found footage" movies. And while they work and can transmit a tension and fright, they can never hit that dread and horror that beautifully shot movies like The Shining can.

Its a good movie. If you are a fan of paranormal with a twist movies, or found footage flicks, give it a shot.