Grief, guilt and self-destruction

by Korios » 
The actor is spectacular yet I do not think all we see about him is inside his head, that he was gone insane (though I wish they really went with that). What we see is supposed to be from his cameras, not how he views the world. So while Michael King might have hallucinated that his book went on fire or that some force dragged him around like a mop, his cameras would not have recorded that. What we only get from inside his head is the noise and voices he hears. This makes the film not a pure "lost and found tapes" one, since we also hear his thoughts.

I believe that the description of what was "inside" Michael's head does also fall within a true found footage genre in his having had multiple cameras which included those that were witness to his descriptions of what he was hearing/believing psychologically, inside his head..while he also had cameras that were bearing witness to the physical acts as well(ie.The abuses he physically received while attempting the exorcisms on himself like flames, contortions, his being thrown through the air, etc).

I believe that is was Michael's GRIEF, GUILT, AND SELF DESTRUCTION that fully paved the way to his boldly approaching the questioning of the existence of demons, etc.

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I wish it had gone the psychological route even more, too. Taking out some of the explicitly paranormal scenes, or having them occur off-screen (in particular the one where he was dragged/thrown all over the house), would've tremendously benefited the movie, and made it more disturbing and haunting. The timing of that scene was off, too: the director folded too early, undercutting the tension he'd built up for the end. The shot in the end where King calls out his wife's name and the coin stops spinning would've been the only 'realistically impossible' scene I would've kept. The scene is not only supernatural but also poignant.

Issues with horror movies are often endemic: you can't correct them without pretty starting from scratch. But with this movie I feel the problems are 'fixable.' Its bones are good; that's why I recommend it.

The most disturbing scene in the movie for me is actually the last shot, of the car running the wife over, and from her vantage on the ground, the vehicle simply driving away. I think the director saved the scene for the very end on purpose.

It's what real evil looks like.

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