3 out of 5

Director: Fernando Barreda Luna

Well it ain’t great, but it certainly ain’t, uh… atrocious… either. Yay and then you stopped reading my review. BUT THERE’S MORE! So Blair Witch, and Quarantine / REC, or Paranormal, etc. and etc. A lot of the shaky cam pseudo-documentary films that make a splash have rewarding elements that fall apart after repeated views or a moment to think about the events, and Atrocious doesn’t really break that pattern. What it does do – what it did do, while I was watching it – was unnerve me in a way that hasn’t happened since watching Blair With in a darkened theater, and for that it gets points. Nothing new under the sun regarding plotting – an excuse to give our leads a constant camera and some then cue scaryness. More specifically, a brother and sister who film / debunk urban legends decide to pursue a ghost story based around the woods near the old family home where they are vacationing. The woods do make for an awesome find set-wise, a beautiful and creepy labyrinth with random stone landmarks scattered throughout. To say more is really to ruin the experience (because that’s truly what this films are all about), but Atrocious brings some uniqueness to the table in terms of plotting and pacing. There are moments you will want it to speed up, but that adds to the angst I mentioned feeling, so it works, overall, in its favor, vs. the inevitable predictable day/night cycles of Paranormal. As long as you don’t think about it too much and just let it work, Atrocious is an enjoyable experience, showing that this specific genre still has possibilities left for growth.