I won't deny that I was pretty excited about seeing this movie. Three years had passed since I saw one of my favourite horror films ever, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, and MY LITTLE EYE seemed to be a film very much in a similar vein – a low budget production about kids trapped in the woods, focusing on realism over everything else. Trailers made the film look extremely scary and with the Halloween season upon us once again, I was eager to see a film that would freak me out. MY LITTLE EYE is no classic but instead a solid, atmospheric and at times deeply disturbing horror film that hits the mark more often than not. Despite a deluge in the horror/reality show market (before the film there was an advert for HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION, with a very similar premise by the looks of it), this is a film to take full advantage of the new internet medium, with a soundtrack chock-full of weird modem noise and sounds of zoom lens and unnatural computer effects.
The pacing is deliberately slow with minimal action. The first hour consists of endless plot set-up, character building, and spooky events occurring which only add to the mystery of the situation. The setting of the old, creepy wooden house works well and the isolation of the situation sets in before long. The film itself is strong on atmosphere and as realistic as you could want it. One pleasant surprise is the calibre of the acting, generally being fantastic and as good as you could get: the cast of fresh-faced twentysomething youngsters make their various characters as realistic as possible without resorting to overacting for effect. The best thing to say is that you forget they're acting, so they've done their jobs more than adequately. Special mention to Kris Lemche (GINGER SNAPS), once again stealing another movie with his highly effective and edgy performance.
For the first hour, the suspense and atmosphere is gradually upped with a string of inexplicable events. A crow becomes trapped in the house and is killed, a parcel of bricks is found outside, and a bloodstained hammer appears on the bed. Then a stranger arrives, Lemche finds access to the internet and all hell breaks loose. The last twenty minutes turns the film into something like a routine slasher movie, with a maniac going on a varied killing spree, and thus some of the unsettling atmosphere is lost and instead the film turns into a stark, gory stalk-and-slash suspenser. Personally I prefer my horror films to have supernatural explanations so I didn't think this finale was as great as it could have been. It also seems to be needlessly nihilistic just for the sake of it.
The film falls into the trap of saying too much at the finale, having to reveal every single plot point to the audience when perhaps some ambiguity should have been in order. Technically, this film is surprisingly proficient and makes fine use of little gimmicks like having the screen split into four at the beginning and end, and some excellent sequences with night-vision cameras which make pupilless eyes glow spookily in the dark. Although this falls short of being a classic in the same way I consider THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT to be a classic, strong production values and acting make it a contender and one to check out for all major fright-fans.
The pacing is deliberately slow with minimal action. The first hour consists of endless plot set-up, character building, and spooky events occurring which only add to the mystery of the situation. The setting of the old, creepy wooden house works well and the isolation of the situation sets in before long. The film itself is strong on atmosphere and as realistic as you could want it. One pleasant surprise is the calibre of the acting, generally being fantastic and as good as you could get: the cast of fresh-faced twentysomething youngsters make their various characters as realistic as possible without resorting to overacting for effect. The best thing to say is that you forget they're acting, so they've done their jobs more than adequately. Special mention to Kris Lemche (GINGER SNAPS), once again stealing another movie with his highly effective and edgy performance.
For the first hour, the suspense and atmosphere is gradually upped with a string of inexplicable events. A crow becomes trapped in the house and is killed, a parcel of bricks is found outside, and a bloodstained hammer appears on the bed. Then a stranger arrives, Lemche finds access to the internet and all hell breaks loose. The last twenty minutes turns the film into something like a routine slasher movie, with a maniac going on a varied killing spree, and thus some of the unsettling atmosphere is lost and instead the film turns into a stark, gory stalk-and-slash suspenser. Personally I prefer my horror films to have supernatural explanations so I didn't think this finale was as great as it could have been. It also seems to be needlessly nihilistic just for the sake of it.
The film falls into the trap of saying too much at the finale, having to reveal every single plot point to the audience when perhaps some ambiguity should have been in order. Technically, this film is surprisingly proficient and makes fine use of little gimmicks like having the screen split into four at the beginning and end, and some excellent sequences with night-vision cameras which make pupilless eyes glow spookily in the dark. Although this falls short of being a classic in the same way I consider THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT to be a classic, strong production values and acting make it a contender and one to check out for all major fright-fans.