The Bay (2012)

My first thoughts when I started watching The Bay were: "oh no, not another found footage film", which was justified considering how many bad found footage films have been made over the last 5 years.

If anything, The Bay is more original and interesting than the other found footage films. The story centers around a small town coastal town located next to an inland bay. The towns folk start falling victim to a mysterious illness, that causes huge boils to form on the skin.  The plot is split between 4 perspectives of the crisis. One is the found footage of a woman trapped on the island and she recounts how everything started and how she came to be trapped. The other cameras mainly focus on the hospital and a doctor there who keeps in touch the local CDC office - keeping survivors to date on the situation.

The other storyline centers upon a family who leave the island on a boat just before the crisis starts who are unaware of the mayhem ensuing on the island behind them. The family return towards the end of the film to discover the town littered with dead bodies.

I like how the film has multiple focus points and storylines which is what makes it unique among found footage films - which usually have a single camera in one location. The special effects were good, with the boils on the peoples skins looking realistic and disgusting.

The flicking the camera  from location to location does make the film seem slightly disjointed at times, and the filming style tends to be more documentary-like rather then horror found footage style. That being said, not a bad effort, not brilliant, but one of the better found footage films of recent years. 

 

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Raze (2014)

Raze is an extreme low budget horror with plenty of over-the-top violence. The film begins with Rachel Nichols being released from a cell in an underground prison. She meets another women in the brightly lit red corridor. The pair soon find themselves in a stone walled circle and it becomes obvious to them both what this area is for - its a fighting ring.

The other women, Sabrina (Zoe Bell), launches a vicious attack on Rachel Nichols, knocking here to the ground and hitting her with punch after punch until her face is nothing more then a bloody mush. The scene is very disturbing especially the wet pounding noises of the punches.

The fact that the best a most well known actress in the film dies within the first 5 minutes, is the biggest let down and most ridiculous part of the film. The rest of the film basically involves scene after scene of the same extreme fight violence, in which Sabrina must fight against the   many other imprisoned woman.

Their captures tell them that the last remaining women left alive in this gruesome fight tournament will be set free. The film is basically one gory fight after another with little meaningful dialogue or character development in between. If pure violence and gore is your thing then this is the film for you. Overall though Raze is a poor effort with a completely predictable ending.

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You're Next (2013)

You're Next is part of the "Mumblegore" sub-genre of low budget indie horror. Recent additions to this increasing popular sub-genre are House of  the Devil , The Innkeepers and VHS. The best way to describe this "Mumblegore" (ridiculous name) is a mix or art house  and old school horror.

Anyway lets talk about the film. The Davison Family decide to have a family reunion at their huge mansion in the country. Tension run high among the siblings and arguments soon breakout during the lavish banquet the family gather for in dining room in the evening.

The stormy reunion is soon interrupted when a group of men wearing animal masks break into the house and start terrorising the family. The masks look really creepy and include a Lamb,Wolf and a Fox.

As the Davison family clan gets picked off one by one by the intruders, one of the family decides to fight back; Erin, the wife of one of the families son's who apparently grew up on a Survivalist Compound (convenient), puts her survivalist skills to use using survival tactics, and setting nasty traps for the masked killers.

When only a few of family remain, a huge plot twist is revealed, at twist that makes Erin's survival even more difficult. The the bloody deaths that Erin inflicts on the intruders are original and grizzly, the best of which involves a food blender being stuck into a mans head.

I loved the whole feel of this film. It was perfectly paced with lots of tension, creepy scenes and atmosphere. Ti West's is quickly becoming one of my favorite horror directors, and You're Next is his best effort so far. Sharni Vinson's performance as the final girl, Erin, was superb, as were the performce from the rest of the mostly unknown cast. 

You're Next is a well written violent gore-fest with some truly memorable kills involving axes, nails, meat tenderizers and of course the infamous food blender scene, and is one of may all-time  favorite survival horrors.

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