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DVD POV: Norowareta firumu
 Run time: 92 min Rating: 6.3 Genres: Horror Director: Norio Tsuruta Writers: Norio Tsuruta Stars: Yasuyuki Hirano, Haruna Kawaguchi, Takashi Kodama |
| Storyline As part of a show, Haruna and Mirai watch a ghost video submitted by a viewer, only to experience strange occurrences that later draw the crew to Haruna’s school; the location of the taken video. |
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| Plot Keywords: three word title, japanese horror film | |
| Details: Country: Japan Release Date: 18 February 2012 (Japan) |
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DVD POV: Norowareta firumu
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Okay, we all know the drill with these "first person perspective" horror movies. A small group of people take their camcorders and investigate a haunted school. The viewer is then treated to the footage of their investigation, which will undoubtedly include strange occurrences and ghostly apparitions. "POV: A Cursed Film" can be summarized into three parts.
The opening half hour includes a fairly effective introduction to the characters and storyline. Two girls are hosting a television show and they decide to do a segment on ghost videos. They see a creepy one and a strange incident occurs in their studio. After consulting a psychic, they go to the location of the video. This portion of "POV" is pretty good, with a creepy rooftop video scene as a highlight.
The middle half hour is spent inside the school, but is somewhat mediocre and dull. It includes a few cheap jump scares and some filler material, as well as some questionable decision-making on the part of the characters. The scare tactics are familiar and not all that effective. At this point I was wavering as to whether or not I would give "POV" a passing grade.
The final half hour concludes the investigation within the school, and also includes a 15-minute sequence after the first set of ending credits, as well as a 1-minute sequence after the second set of ending credits. Most fortunately, the finale within the school is much better than the middle section because it uses supernatural obstructions in creepy, interesting ways. The post-credit sequences, however, are the best parts of "POV" and include a memorable haunting inside of a movie theater (where the raw footage of the investigation is being screened). This sequence gives "POV" a bit of uniqueness when compared to its peers. Having the best part of the film at the end definitely helps to leave a good taste in the viewer's mouth.
On the technical side, this film has a low budget (like many recent J-horror films) but also seems to have minimal editing and some very long takes. Even during the less interesting moments, it's impressive to see the actors interact and the camera move without cuts in the action. There is some shaky cam during one chase, but it's not used much.
Overall, "POV" is worth a watch for fans of "first person perspective" horror, but if you dislike this sub-genre you're best served to stay away from this.
And there we have it, The Blair Witch Project comes out, the revolutionary "found footage" film and one of the most successful independent movie of all time!
As time passes by, we get Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters, REC, Cloverfield and others, that pretty much establish this type of movies is here to stay, giving us satirical comedies: A haunted house, Scary movie (some parts); dark fantasy: Trollhunter and so much more. Let us not forget tho, Cannibal Holocaust is the real pioneer in this!
Moving on –> P.O.V. – A Cursed Film. First of all, I must say, I'm not the biggest "found footage" fan out there, but HORROR is something I love for many years. Even so, P.O.V. was quite alright, some good thrills, some good ideas, some humor and quite a nice ending too.
I don't think it could have been more, I'm quite sure it hit it's maximum potential and as a result, we got a movie that will keep you tensed a little, scared sometimes and curious from head to toe!
First person perspective fan or not, for one's collection, this is something that shouldn't be missed, especially for the fact that its not a Hollywood product, so simply out of curiosity, you should check how this phenomenon develops miles away!
Don't really wanna say more, so I won't spoil it for you, my advice , try it out. Don't think you'll be disappointed mate, I really don't think you will.
I had mixed feelings about this movie before bringing myself to watch it. I thought it was going to be really bad, but I was wrong. This movie is actually decent and surprised me with some nice scares and VERY creepy atmosphere.
This movie uses the whole camera "found-footage" view (as it name says), but this was actually done pretty well for once as far as scares come. The movie has really great atmosphere at some parts and will creep you out at certain scenes along with some well-timed jump scares and loud sounds.
The let down of this film is that it could have been SO much better and it had a crappy ending. I believe it's because of the way the film was plotted. The movie should have had a different route/story that allowed for more scares because that's what I really enjoyed about this film.
Overall, the movie is decent. Still worth a watch if you have free time and if you like these kinds of movies.
When you mix low budget found footage films with amateurish acting and laughable 'tense' scenes, you get a whole lot of crap. However,this film is the only film I have seen to do the exact same thing without being too mediocre.
This film was so-so compared to Norio's other films, mainly because the plot should be more strengthened; it was too weak. The film is also pretty weak on the scares, but that little boy (the one that stares at the window)and the old man ( when he appears at an interview at a pool) did manage to scare me. As for the ending, it was vague and did not really explain any of the happenings from before.
This movie is definitely a recommendation though and it is one of the best of the found footage films out there. (Yes, yes, I know I criticized it before)