Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

kosmasp The idea/concept behind this movie is a really good one. The way it is shot though, may appall a lot of people from the get go. Having the "shaky cam" and fuzzy cameras including sound variation is actually pretty annoying (although you do wonder where some film material is coming from, but that's another story).Nick Stahl plays the lead role and he has a lot to carry. Too much for him in my view. He can't pull off that transformation the character is going through. His outbursts are actually silly and look more like he's crazy than an actual human being. But for this movie to work, it has to be believable. And it just isn't. If you can't overlook the many flaws this movie has (like me), you won't really like this either. Acting wise it's unfortunately not up to the task (though the story/character changes do not help at times either).

DICK STEEL Just when you thought the first person perspective, found/edited footage films can no longer reinvent itself, having possibly adapted itself to all kinds of film genres suitable for the medium, writer-director Randall Cole throws in one more into the hat, and quite brilliantly it's got to do with home invasion, being acutely that of privacy, which will irk even the most liberal amongst us, feeling icky that someone else has total coverage over everything about our lives, obviously without authorization. But its smartness stretched out its luck a little too far, and what began as an interesting premise soon gave way to implausibilities that tanked the entire story.The cast list is pretty impressive though, centering around the couple James and Amy, played by Nick Stahl and Mia Kirshner respectively. But what we learn of their lives come courtesy of a stalker who voyeurs into their titular house, from a car inconspicuously parked on an opposite road. Armed with a recorder equipped with zoom lens and a directional microphone, we get to see, and hear, the couple's every move, and gain knowledge about their state of affairs and backgrounds.Yes, the filmmaker has put us into the shoes of the perpetrator, and honestly it gets quite addictive as we listen in through more cameras and more microphones, no thanks to the perp gaining entry into their home, and mounting more hidden cameras, which extended to places like their car, and office computer. That's when things got stretched a little too far, as the film started to believe in its own arrogance, that it failed to work within its own constraints set up by the premise, and had to have you accept its brand of logic, making it from a premise that's possible and real (and therefore identifiable), to film fantasy.The plot quickens after a while of static camera shifting, and this happens very frequently due to different cameras mounted at various vantage points around the house, that made the presentation one big channel surf by an attention deficit disorder sufferer. And this betrays the wafer thin plot about how Amy goes missing, and James being the wreck when he cannot locate his wife, relying on one of his suspects, Bill (Devon Sawa), to help get down to the bottom of things, and with Amy's sister Katherine (Krista Bridges) breathing down James' neck, suggesting that he has something to do with Amy's disappearance.The brilliance came only in the last ten minutes, offering a reveal that we'd already know of, and making us aware of the shoes we've been stepping into the entire time. It offers an ending that's open to more follow up films, but unless the story takes precedence, this is going to languish in gimmicky territory despite a brilliant start. It's a gem of a genre waiting to be polished further, which is a pity it wasn't done so in time for this feature film to make its necessary impact.

Kolobos51 388 Arletta Avenue is a solid little low budget film that brings the "found footage" trend to the thriller genre.The movie stars Nick Stahl and Mia Kirshner as a yuppie couple being menaced by a voyeuristic stalker that enjoys playing elaborate mind games. Sound familiar? Well, in theory this is pretty standard thriller territory but it's given an unsettling realism as the entire film is seen through the stalker's elaborate camera system which he has discreetly rigged every facet of our hero couple's life with.Watching the whole movie through slightly fuzzy, often awkward camera angles might become tiresome to some but I liked the overall effect. It makes everything seem so much more real, dramatic, and more disturbing.Adding to the realistic tone of the movie is the great cast. The leads are played by Nick Stahl (Sin City), Mia Kirshner (The Black Dahlia), and Devon Sawa (Final Destination), who plays a loser Stahl's character tormented in high school who may or may not be responsible for what is happening now. All three have been great in the past and this movie is easily the best any have been in many years. I will mention that Stahl is the focus and he carries the movie brilliantly bringing an unassuming everyman quality to his stressed out character. I particularly enjoyed watching how he goes from a mild, mannered suburbanite to an erratic, paranoid mess.388 Arletta Avenue is a short movie and it won't be to everyone's taste. As a film from the makers of Cube and Splice, it is also appropriately off kilter and original, an engrossing, character driven thriller that will actually creep you out if you have the patience to sit through a slow burn.Incidentally, it reminded me a bit of My Little Eye, a ridiculously under appreciated horror movie from a few years ago.

Graeme Baxter Finally, a film in the sub genre that actually works. I want to call this a found footage, however, it's not really, and maybe that's exactly why it works so well - there is no pretense that these events are "real", there are no ridiculous "shaky cam" moments that give you motion sickness.Instead, Randall Cole gives us a solid bit of film-making, taking the POV genre to a new level with a well thought out storyline, excellent character development, and solid direction.It's a story that could easily play out in real life, and Cole seamlessly takes us through the gradual break down of a relationship, one that he hints deliciously that has some deeper, darker demons in the past, but one we don't fully(or indeed need) get to see. The psychological turmoil faced by "James", brilliantly played by Nick Stahl, gets more over-powering as Cole takes on his journey into hell, culminating in a shocking ending that will leave you wanting more.There's a definite feel of "The Poughkeepsie Tapes" about 388 Arletta Avenue, but this is a good thing, because whilst the Tapes has been around for several years, it's still somewhat unheard of and still a groundbreaking movie for what the story contains - 388 Arletta takes the premise and brings it right into your living room.388 Arletta Avenue - unrelenting, unremitting. Unmissable.8/10