Director: Carles Torrens
Pigeonhole: Horror / POV - Found Footage "style"
Basics: Alan White (Lennox), his daughter Caitlin (Mantegna), and son Benny have been experiencing happenings in their run down apartment. Alan contacts Dr. Helzer (O'Keefe), a paranormal investigator, to examine what the cause might be. Helzer and his team arrive and install video cameras throughout the apartment and record multiple instances of what appears to be a violent ghost or spirit. But not all is what it seems.
Recommendation: If you enjoy the faux-investigation POV style of horror movie, then Apartment 143 is worth checking out. 'R' rating is for language and violence.
My Thoughts: **spoiler alert** The first half of the movie is a formulaic set up of scary images, interviews, and cliche POV moments. We see the family members show the continual strain and stress of the situation, especially the teenaged Caitlin lashing out towards her father. Helzer, with his 2 assistants, gather footage and try to look at the evidence "scientifically". Alan thinks that "something" followed his family after his wife died and they moved to the apartment - implying that maybe it is her. Helzer does not seem convinced. About 45 minutes in, after several encounters and even one recorded visual of what appears to be a spirit, Helzer informs Alan that what is happening is not a ghost or haunting. Helzer instead notes that the objects being thrown around, the people being assaulted, the ghostly image, etc... is, instead, being done psycho-kinetically.
Helzer digs a little deeper and discovers Alan's deceased wife was "likely" schizophrenic and that Caitlin is showing signs of schizophrenia's onset. And that is likely what is happening, Caitlin is projecting the actions through her mind.
The concluding scene was interesting - everyone has left the apartment after the summary about Caitlin's mental state, but a rolling shot from one of the stationary cameras, however, shows a ghost crawling towards the lens. (A possible sequel coming?)
There were some intense moments that built some good tension. Nothing looked too overly mocked up as far as effects went, so it felt that much more believable. I liked how Gia Mantegna's character came off as the strong willed, defiant teenager.
The Bad: I am truly in the dark about if the director wanted us to think that Helzer was right, and Caitlin was creating the activity and destruction around her family with her mind, or there was actually a ghost there and that Helzer was wrong. Different scenes and dialogue, including the conclusion, would have us to believe very different things. I don't mind ambiguity, but I don't like total confusion, which is where this film left me.
There were no "jump" moments where I truly felt scared. I guess because there are so many similar movies in this genre that there would have been at least one or two really great moments to separate it from the proverbial pack, but there weren't.
There was a scene where a psychic was brought to the apartment to make contact with "the other side". I think this was yet another confusing moment for me, because I got nothing out of the scene towards the plot.
On the fence: O'Keefe's character came off as burned-out, but he always seemed to know more than than the other characters and the audience. It almost appeared at times like he was a skeptic of anything supernatural. When the worst of the haunting action was taking place, and when he would make his reveals or his suppositions to Alan and his team, his delivery came off as almost nonchalant. I am sure this was direction but something just did not seem right about it - like he would look at the camera as if to share an inside joke, yet no one knows what the joke is.
In Conclusion: Years from now, when fans look back at some of the best of the horror/POV footage movies, this will not be listed as one of them. However, Apartment 143 is worth seeing for some good acting, and some tense scenes.
No comments:
Post a Comment