Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
FrogGlace
In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
wintry-34293
While I am very fond of the internet series Marble Hornets, the review I give is fair. That is to say, instead of enjoying it despite the flaws, I enjoy it with flaws included. Marble Hornets is a suspense-horror drama employing the 'found-footage' technique. I was late to whole Slender Man hype, as I was late to almost every other internet fad, and I approached the series with apprehension, which soon turned to wonderment. I could not see how an internet series employing a technique as redundant and clichéd as 'found- footage horror' and dealing with subject matter as corny as the Slender Man could evolve into such an absorbing, somber mood piece. I say this with no hint of irony. Granted, the series begins unexceptionally, with hokey jump scare tactics and juvenile plotting. For many, this is what enthralled them. For me, however it is not until season 3 that the show reveals it's genius, even it is perhaps unintentional. Between seasons 2 and 3 the plot becomes irrevocably confused, with twist upon twist and much backtracking, and the more we saw of Jessica and Alex, the more unintentionally humorous the show becomes. However, it is the confusion which I believe, propels the show to greatness. Take entry #54 for example, my personal favorite of the entire series. The episode opens with typical Marble Hornets, driving sequences. There are lots and lots of driving sequences. Jay talks to Tim about more tapes, and then the tape begins to run. So far I am unimpressed. But once we see the contents of the tape, the atmosphere is like a punch to the head. Not to say it is not subtle, for I believe it is, but rather that the shift in tone and sudden dislocation is truly incredible. The men run out of the rain, they sit in "Tim's music room", the power cuts out. Slender Man appears. They goof around in the dark by torchlight, and a long thin leg-like thing darts into the room. The tape ends. It is this simple sequence of events that I find so beguiling. I believe this entry to be a miniature masterpiece of escalating tension. When it is released, it is not as we expect. Sure, it's a jump scare, but it's less like Slender Man's leg, more like a giant spider's. This entry blew me away with it's effective simplicity. And yet, the flaws are equally important in my opinion of it. The keyboard "beats" sequence in crushingly unfunny in a trying-to-be-funny way, and yet paradoxically, that is why is works. I believe that the same can be said for the entire series. It is this combination between the genuinely scary atmosphere and anticipation and the poor jump scares, the uncomfortably, and sometimes unintentionally humorous acting, (take Tim's hospital confession in season 3 for instance) and the sometimes unbelievably naturalistic acting that sometimes surfaces. It's not perfect, but that's why it's perfect.
disposablenick
Imagine elementary school children playing with action figures. They have no story. Minute by minute, they make it up as they go along, and their minute-by-minute story is uninteresting, uninspired, and uninformed by life experiences or research.That's "Marble Hornets", only along with the interminable, nonsensical, video-recorded live-action childish roleplaying, we get a bunch of incredibly stupid people praising them, cheering them on, and pretending to want their contributions to a feature film. I could forgive them for making horrible videos if 1) they weren't receiving and capitalizing on undeserved praise while 2) hijacking someone else's fictional character.I would love to see a comparison between whatever these guys propose as contributions to the screenplay and what ultimately gets made. In the end, I suspect their only realized contributions will be the title and the setting, to relate the film to the "internet phenomenon".
Alaska Mulders
This starts out great: suspenseful, mysterious, and it has your attention right away. As film student Jay takes a look at the tapes of the unfinished project of a fellow film student, (Alex) he notices a mysterious figure appearing in several strange shots that don't seem to fit in with the rest of the film. It becomes clear that something happened to his friend and might have been hunted by the creature, also known as Slender Man. As Jay keeps studying the footage, he gets involved in it up to a point there's no way back.So, like I said, this started out very promising and it had me thrilled. However, as the series unfold, it just keeps going for too long and in my opinion, the story loses its vigor. The story stops being coherent, they keep adding things to it in a way that makes it seem like they just make it up as they go along. 'Oh, here's another tape I hadn't seen before'. Plus it seems a little too easy to include memory loss every time as an excuse to fill in the gaps, and it becomes annoying after a while he doesn't remember anything. On top of that, the character's actions don't make sense half of the time and they behave completely unrealistic. There's a scene in which Jay follows Alex deep into the woods without even knowing what they're going to do there, and at some point he just goes back on his own and Alex stays behind, in the middle of the woods. (Maybe they explain Alex's strange behaviour later on, but it's still weird Jay followed him for no apparent reason.) Also he willingly keeps wandering around in desolated houses and woods on his own, even though he knows Slender Man can show up any moment and despite his previous statement he doesn't want anything to do with it anymore.What also bugs me is the complete lack of emotion and/or fear Jay seems to have. He never once screams, seems in shock or looks/sounds the least bit frightened, panicked or emotionally affected even though his whole life has become a complete nightmare. Whenever he's on camera he just looks kind of numb, which could make sense since he's wrecked, but it's the only state he's ever in. I know I would freak the hell out in his situation, and most people would express at least some kind of emotion.Halfway through the entries, the only thing that kept me watching is that I wanted to know how it ends. I feel like the concept is really good but there's just a lot of missed chances. Too bad, I really loved the concept and the very strong beginning. That doesn't mean there are no plus points: it did keep me watching, so it's very addictive and they keep up the suspense constantly. At the end of every entry, it made me and my boyfriend go: 'Ok, ONE more'. It's definitely a recommendation if you like mystery/horror and a good scare, but don't expect a genius storyline.Still worth a 7 out of 10.
luicacoustic
A YouTube serial (with "Entries" serving as one episode), based on the urban legend from SomethingAwful forums, Slender Man. This is another type of movie/series like the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield... but this title is much more superior than those mentioned as the atmosphere is much more different... and arguably much better.First, close to the experience to playing Slender: The Eight Pages, the cast and crew create an atmosphere of fear in quite a lot of entries. Also, they don't overdo the fear in every entry, as they have a created a perfect balance in intensity in the series. The shaky camera adds to the fear and anxiousness as the viewer watches every entry. Some may see this as a negative, but I believe the same effect would not work if it was filmed with professional shots, so it actually works well. The acting has also found a great balance of naturalistic acting with believable characters and good portrayal. The portrayal of Slender Man is also excellent and how he appears unknowingly in a lot of entries make this series really worth watching.The only downside to the series is that there is quite a long waiting time before another entry is posted. Which again is also a good thing, it's so good you want some more. It definitely keeps you hooked.Also, this another series where I have not felt tired of any episode or actually have favourites.If you have some time, definitely check out the series and make sure he's not watching ;)