Found footage films have become the cheap
way to make films, and why not in this day and age of making a profit. However
it is because of this and with the rash of new found footage films that see the
light of day, what once seemed fresh and interesting is now almost a new breed
of horror trope.
Gone are the days of the screaming blonde with a huge rack
running up the stairs, now it has been replaced by the shaky camera when
something unexpected happens or its camera interference when something is about
to happen. The found footage sub genre still has these tried and tested
elements from the old school but the new school formula is getting very tired,
very quickly.
Skinwalker
Ranch is loosely based on the alleged happenings at
the real ranch called Sherman Ranch located in Utah, it is the site of
paranormal and UFO activity. The name Skinwalker comes from the Native
Americans who called people with supernatural ability to turn into the animals
of their choosing. Skinwalker Ranch is by no means a bad film, in fact I think it is
quite well made, has some very ingenious set pieces and has some solid acting.
Unfortunately as the opening paragraph stated, found footage films are getting
very samey.
The setup for Skinwalker Ranch is familiar
yet enjoyable. After seeing some home video footage of a child disappearing
after a bright blue light flashes... we get straight into the story with
members of a scientific research team checking out the events at the titular
ranch. With this comes a fair bit of perfunctory exposition and where every
character gets a short video introduction, where you get see what type of
personalities they all have and setting up some good payoffs.
Unfortunately writer
Adam Ohler doesn't really do enough with these events and also struggles with the larger than
normal cast for a film of this kind. I can’t help but feel this film may have
been better served better if it was filmed in the regular fashion with some
found footage elements thrown in there, like the film that the research crew
find and watch, which for me was the most effective part of the film.
A film that had a lot of these personalities are all the character development you are going to get. The cameras are all set up with motion sensors so not only do you have a hand held camera capturing the actions, you have the static security cameras ala Paranormal Activity 2. As mentioned before the tropes come thick and fast and by the time the Native American elder tells them that they should leave, you know what you are signing up for.
Like many films before it Skinwalker Ranch keeps its cards close to its chest early and slowly reveals more and more. However as it reveals more the less it makes sense or perhaps more aptly, the more questions are raised. There is a feast of phenomena happening at the ranch, with huge beasts, electromagnetic events, strange sounds, cattle mutilation and even ghost like images. Unfortunately none of these events are joined together so the film doesn't make that much sense.
Director Devin McGinn does do a good job of orchestrating good ideas and
good intentions but the plot and writing let it down as it relies too much on
things we had seen a thousand times before and, for a found footage film to
seem fresh, it needed to stand out from the over populated crowd.
Ryan Morrissey-Smith @TigersMS78
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