Cliffbrook
2013 Color
81 Mins.
Melanie Papalia stars.
Written and Directed by Zachary Donahue
Rated R for language, violence, sexuality, gore and nudity.
Holy Shit that movie was scary. I really had zero interest in seeing this film. I had seen the trailers and heard some solid buzz but the concept just seemt a little played out. The thought of witnessing another online found footage horror film didn't merit high expectations from me. But I'm the first to admit when I'm wrong and boy was I wrong. The Den is a cyber horror thriller of sorts where a young woman played convincingly by newcomer Papalia applies for a grant to conduct online research in a chat room, talking to all kinds of different people from all over the world and seeing how they interact. But she off course expectedly witnesses a murder and than the murderers come after her. I wish I could make it sound better. But truth be told Donahue could have easily turned this into an exploitative torture porn flick and it's not that it doesn't have those elements. But he makes the proceedings really engaging by developing the characters and story in such a way that we the audience become part of it. The whole experience is very immersive and just when you think you have things figured out he throws in a whammy of a finale. Sure the execution puts limitations on the material but I think it works more in this film than any others that have tried it including Unfriended.The film becomes so intense I found myself clutching my chest and cursing that I had watched it home alone by myself. It actually made me a little nervous to even come back online. But I don't do that chat stuff and never will now. So my advice is ignore the trailers, in fact don't watch any of them and just watch the Den it's an experience well worth having for someone looking to see a real horror film. ****.25/5
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