Reel Evil

“I’ve got an idea.”

“Famous last words.”

Okay, yet another paranormal found footage film set in a haunted insane asylum. Three documentary filmmakers are desperate for income and land a humbling gig following a film crew on a low budget horror film set in a real asylum. Diva director and lead actress--plus an asshole producer--make things difficult for our starving-for-that-big-break crew, so they venture into the darker parts of the hospital to do some snooping and see if they can catch something far more interesting than their paid assignment. The voice and “brains” of the crew is Kennedy (Jessica Morris; after looking at her resume, this girl has done some time in the soap opera and has been in a lot of horror, as well), the sound man is Corey (Kaiwi Lyman; always carrying around the boom mic), and camera operator/specialist is James (Jeff Adler). These three encounter a lot more than they bargain for (as does the aforementioned director, diva actress (who can’t act a lick but has a nice body), and grumpy, self-absorbed producer of the film), as the hospital’s former patients and personnel return as deadly spirits to disrupt future career plans. With the usual video feed disruptions and technical difficulties when the spirits appear, the emergence of ghouls, popping up and disappearing at their leisure, and the hospital’s “personality” (the appearance of mad scribbling in ink on walls, cluttered desks and floors with trash and filth as a result of occupants abandoning the premises after closure, the ugly green and grime of the color palate that echoes what once was and no longer is as time has made the institution its bitch, and the convenience of what two camera set-ups are able to capture as the spirits crash the party), Reel Evil is in some ways a companion piece to the Grave Encounters films.

 

The trio falls apart emotionally and the finale has the usual running around, freaking out, and eventual fall to the spirits after them. I guess whether or not you like the three actors of the crew and the special effects of the institution spirits will determine if Reel Evil is a good time or dud. There is plenty of tits (Cory films sex with a compliant assistant to their film producer employer, an extra under a sheet, playing a dead victim, rises up after a take is stopped and twirls her hair as the crew argue, and the lead scream queen gets all hot and heavy with a camera guy on the film set), and once again Hollywood independent filmmaking is subjected to a negative light (those involved in the film are pretentious pricks). I will probably forget this not long after I watch it, but Morris is an actress I found quite watchable (not just attractive, but Morris gives her character some dimension; she’s headstrong, determined, somewhat assured, willing to take risks, and not above hurt when her skills are in question by untalented performers). I do think there will be some, however, that find Kennedy a moron for not listening to her cohorts as they demand returning to the film set and out of the inner confines of the creepy asylum. But without doing so, there is no movie, so this “NO!!!! DON’T DO IT!!!” we might scream at the screen is actually, “WHILE YOU’RE AN IDIOT FOR DOING SO, PLEASE MOVE FORWARD INTO THE ASYLUM!!!!”