Last night I went to see my second movie at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. It’s an American one entitled “Home Movie” and is supposedly the scariest film at the 2008 festival.

If you have kids, Home Movie might cause you to never look at them the same way again. The film is about an American family living in a house beside the woods in the middle of nowhere. In the beginning they appear to be a normal family with loving parents, but we quickly see that this is not the case. There is something eerie about the children, Jack and Emily, who are twins. They don’t talk or smile for a good chunk of the beginning of the movie, and seem to share many secrets with each other.

Jack and Emily’s parents forcibly continue to try to live as normal lives as possible, celebrating holidays with almost too much enthusiasm. Unfortunately, they continue to discover and witness increasingly disturbing things that Jack and Emily have done. Their mother, who is a child psychologist, puts them on medication, and their father, who is a minister, attempts to exorcise them. Neither of their methods work, and they come to a horrifying realization about their children toward the end of the movie.

The entire film is shot as, well, a home movie, with a shaky amateur video and all, but the Blair Witch Project can’t compare.

Most horror movies I’ve seen lately are either plain gruesome or contain series of “shocking” scenes. There are some funny bits, but Home Movie causes you to feel unsettled and on edge throughout, and possibly even after it’s over. I recommend you see it if you enjoy truly being scared.

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This is slightly off-topic, but still related to the After Dark Film Festival, and explains why this post was tagged as “Wish You Were Here.” I had an unexpected scare before the movie:

I was standing in line outside Bloor Cinema waiting to get in. There are two guys walking around beside the line with a camera and light, looking like they were going to interview people. This crazy man with a severely bruised face walks by and starts harassing one of the guys, then walks away. Several minutes later, Crazy Man comes back and stabs the guy in the stomach, spewing blood onto the ground.

Please don’t be alarmed because they were only acting! For about 5 seconds, though, I thought it was real and was completely horrified. I was getting ready to take my phone out of my bag and call 911 until

a) I noticed that no one was doing anything to stop it
b) I saw my boyfriend’s completely jaded expression
c) A guy dressed in a Batman costume appeared and pretended to punch the Crazy Man in the face

Batman then jaywalks across Bloor Street, trying to hail a cab. Everyone claps and cheers (except for me, still shaken from the scare).

Oh, and then Batman comes back asking if anyone saw his car keys because he dropped them during the fight.

I’m not sure who the actors were, but it was entertaining (maybe not as much for me…) to watch while in line in the cold.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Events, Film, Review, Wish You Were Here. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.