My Little Eye
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I've seen this twice prior to 2010: around 2002 when it was released (at some point on late night digital cable) and 2008 (considering my old April user comments below). Tonight was my third (and definitely final) viewing of it. It is making the rounds on HBO premium channels, like Zone. Reality horror was certainly the shiny new genre toy and with technology even more advanced now My Little Eye is more of a dated but reasonably shocking low budget "human snuff recordings" found footage variation.
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Five young adults from various backgrounds accept an invitation to star in a reality show for a hefty sum if they, as a collective, can remain together for a specific length of time. What they do not know is that they are actually part of a secret internet based "snuff-game" recorded for wealthy clients betting on who will survive to the end. Also, one amongst the group isn't the innocent he/she appears to be..
Gimmicky concept was kind of hip around the late 90's/early millennium thanks to "camera films" like "The Last Broadcast" and "The Bliar Witch Project." I found "My LIttle Eye" entertaining, with how the group slowly comes apart at the seams as unpredictable occurrences begin to unravel the group. Those mysterious masterminds who have created this reality show with their mice trapped in a maze as voyeuristic eyes gaze on them from their computer monitors, a select few with the financial means and morbid taste for this kind of "entertainment." Essentially these five people are mice, with cameras hidden everywhere, from shower heads to ball point pens. There are no avenues of escape from prying eyes, even in their supposed "reality safe zone" where cameras are not supposed to intrude, the subjects of this game find no breaks. I think the idea of having the whole film shot through hidden cameras rather ingenious, and commend the filmmakers for what had to be a difficult process, particularly in the editing room. Pretty sure a lot of footage was shot, from various angles often on one particular person. I'm not sure the climax, where a policeman shows up as the killer is after the "final girl", actually works, but overall I found this horror spoof of reality television rather satisfying. Others may not. The acting and characters are adequate, but I think the gimmick is the showcase here..and this may very well be what turns many away.
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Matt just going homicidal on his six-month roomies as if a switch was flicked sort of happens abruptly, turning on a dime as he suffocates the sexy Charlie while massaging her shoulders. He lops off the head of tech jerk Rex, who served as the nuisance to any idyll the others might have. Emma is, as you might expect, the virginal sex-avoiding final gal archetype, true to form, surviving to the end, only to be shot in the back by a pretend-cop working in concert with the reality dark web snuff "betting pool" show, available to wealthy clients, head sicko mastermind, Travis. Bradley Cooper before he established himself as a heartthrob (with a face I just want to punch for some reason) is Travis, arriving at the cabin pretending to be a down-on-his-luck skier needing a place to crash, claiming to be a programmer who has never seen their supposed major reality show, where making it to the end results in a cool million. Travis doesn't have to work too hard to seduce Charlie, soon dancing dirty with her before she lures him into her bed, hopping on top and riding him with no hesitation for foreplay or hanky panky. You can tell she was just needing an excuse to free her pent-up yearnings for a serious lay, the guys she was trapped with not at all in the league of "dreamy hunk"--vomit in the mouth--Cooper. Travis later looks in the camera and tells his buddy (the play cop) with great pleasure that he knew he could bang her. Rex tried and failed as Travis made sure to tease him about succeeding in a single evening what he couldn't in months. And looking at Charlie, often scantily clad or wearing tight shirts and tiny shorts, this had to be deflating. Emma continues to avoid the affections of Danny who even carved a cuddled cat out of wood and listened on as she laughs it off with Charlie. Danny, defeated, drops from a second floor balcony from the stairs with his neck tightly wrapped in a rope noose. Emma trapped in a white marble floor room as the lights go out, bloodied and alone, is a fate many might cheer...she was insensitive to Danny after finding her panties in a box of his things, even as he quietly but defiantly denies it and she even believes, when bricks are delivered in a care package to the cabin (ever so often a horn will blast and a package with goods is left for them) and finds "sick bitch" written in dust on a window, that an old school student might be near with a vendetta towards her due to a cat drowning prank. The opening hour might test your patience, very gradual, seriously emphasizing the invasive cameras and highlights the crumbling relations in the house. Very inventive cameras and use of angles, although the audio can be a bit tiresome. Rex accumulating snacks, food items, wine, and other items, hiding them for himself, tries to use this secret to get in Charlie's "good graces". Doesn't work. That his head comes off and there are imaginative shots of his bloody aftermath should appease his haters. So, yeah, its spell didn't work on me this time. I did think it was a nice surprise at the time. But third time, nope, not the charm.
I've seen this twice prior to 2010: around 2002 when it was released (at some point on late night digital cable) and 2008 (considering my old April user comments below). Tonight was my third (and definitely final) viewing of it. It is making the rounds on HBO premium channels, like Zone. Reality horror was certainly the shiny new genre toy and with technology even more advanced now My Little Eye is more of a dated but reasonably shocking low budget "human snuff recordings" found footage variation.
------
Five young adults from various backgrounds accept an invitation to star in a reality show for a hefty sum if they, as a collective, can remain together for a specific length of time. What they do not know is that they are actually part of a secret internet based "snuff-game" recorded for wealthy clients betting on who will survive to the end. Also, one amongst the group isn't the innocent he/she appears to be..
Gimmicky concept was kind of hip around the late 90's/early millennium thanks to "camera films" like "The Last Broadcast" and "The Bliar Witch Project." I found "My LIttle Eye" entertaining, with how the group slowly comes apart at the seams as unpredictable occurrences begin to unravel the group. Those mysterious masterminds who have created this reality show with their mice trapped in a maze as voyeuristic eyes gaze on them from their computer monitors, a select few with the financial means and morbid taste for this kind of "entertainment." Essentially these five people are mice, with cameras hidden everywhere, from shower heads to ball point pens. There are no avenues of escape from prying eyes, even in their supposed "reality safe zone" where cameras are not supposed to intrude, the subjects of this game find no breaks. I think the idea of having the whole film shot through hidden cameras rather ingenious, and commend the filmmakers for what had to be a difficult process, particularly in the editing room. Pretty sure a lot of footage was shot, from various angles often on one particular person. I'm not sure the climax, where a policeman shows up as the killer is after the "final girl", actually works, but overall I found this horror spoof of reality television rather satisfying. Others may not. The acting and characters are adequate, but I think the gimmick is the showcase here..and this may very well be what turns many away.
------
Matt just going homicidal on his six-month roomies as if a switch was flicked sort of happens abruptly, turning on a dime as he suffocates the sexy Charlie while massaging her shoulders. He lops off the head of tech jerk Rex, who served as the nuisance to any idyll the others might have. Emma is, as you might expect, the virginal sex-avoiding final gal archetype, true to form, surviving to the end, only to be shot in the back by a pretend-cop working in concert with the reality dark web snuff "betting pool" show, available to wealthy clients, head sicko mastermind, Travis. Bradley Cooper before he established himself as a heartthrob (with a face I just want to punch for some reason) is Travis, arriving at the cabin pretending to be a down-on-his-luck skier needing a place to crash, claiming to be a programmer who has never seen their supposed major reality show, where making it to the end results in a cool million. Travis doesn't have to work too hard to seduce Charlie, soon dancing dirty with her before she lures him into her bed, hopping on top and riding him with no hesitation for foreplay or hanky panky. You can tell she was just needing an excuse to free her pent-up yearnings for a serious lay, the guys she was trapped with not at all in the league of "dreamy hunk"--vomit in the mouth--Cooper. Travis later looks in the camera and tells his buddy (the play cop) with great pleasure that he knew he could bang her. Rex tried and failed as Travis made sure to tease him about succeeding in a single evening what he couldn't in months. And looking at Charlie, often scantily clad or wearing tight shirts and tiny shorts, this had to be deflating. Emma continues to avoid the affections of Danny who even carved a cuddled cat out of wood and listened on as she laughs it off with Charlie. Danny, defeated, drops from a second floor balcony from the stairs with his neck tightly wrapped in a rope noose. Emma trapped in a white marble floor room as the lights go out, bloodied and alone, is a fate many might cheer...she was insensitive to Danny after finding her panties in a box of his things, even as he quietly but defiantly denies it and she even believes, when bricks are delivered in a care package to the cabin (ever so often a horn will blast and a package with goods is left for them) and finds "sick bitch" written in dust on a window, that an old school student might be near with a vendetta towards her due to a cat drowning prank. The opening hour might test your patience, very gradual, seriously emphasizing the invasive cameras and highlights the crumbling relations in the house. Very inventive cameras and use of angles, although the audio can be a bit tiresome. Rex accumulating snacks, food items, wine, and other items, hiding them for himself, tries to use this secret to get in Charlie's "good graces". Doesn't work. That his head comes off and there are imaginative shots of his bloody aftermath should appease his haters. So, yeah, its spell didn't work on me this time. I did think it was a nice surprise at the time. But third time, nope, not the charm.
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