The camera work was bad even for found footage and the story was all over the place. This was just bad.

This movie breathes fresh life in the found-footage genre with some spazzy photography and creative cuts. It builds suspense beautifully - and keeps it there, so that you find yourself holding your breath for more than half the film! It takes a departure from clichéd jumpscares and other horror movie tropes and uses a formula that's not generic so that the final result leaves you unnerved and conscious of the silence of the night. The TRUE objective of a seasoned horror-addict, not those loud BOOs that give you a temporary adrenaline rush.The backstory is a bit weak, and character development lacking. A couple, Scott and Penny, take off from their city life to make a nature documentary. 'Don't you ever feel like leaving it all behind and running to nature?' Scott asks in the beginning, or something of the sort. No, we don't. Scott realizes pretty soon (in the first 5 minutes) that he doesn't either. And not a minute too soon. His exposure to the wilderness leads him and Penny straight to the door of Mr. Jones.Called Mr. Jones by (fans?), this is a guy in a mask and a cape living in isolation and leaving bits of what this movie's characters seem to consider 'art'. Yeah, nobody would consider that art, unless it came with references from an art college, an agent and a 20 dollar entrance fee.Penny is enchanted with what can only be described as creepy tribal tribute effigies, and so they instead make a documentary about Mr. Jones. This is when it gets scary (again, not a moment too soon).While the backstory doesn't hold up too well, my main issue with this movie is in two things: the switching front-to-back camera, and the ending. Other camera-work is simply riveting, but I don't know whose idea it was to turn found-footage into found-footage + cameraman's face. The face shots of a scared Scott lend little or nothing at all of value to the movie.Lastly, yes, the ending. It makes everything (all the nightmares) go away. That sort of dulls the horror. I was disappointed to know that Penny had been right all along and Mr Jones really WAS trying to protect them. It would have been so much fun instead if he was evil and they slowly lose their minds between dream and reality. But that's just my opinion.Definitely worth your time, if only for the scares that really work.

A young couple moves to the woods and soon finds their nightmares and reality colliding.The opening scene is fun and flirty, and makes road trips look like a joyous adventure (which they often are). I was immediately enamored with the two main characters, which rarely happens in movies -- and even more rarely in horror films, where it is a waste of time to get attached to anyone.For the first hour, we have a very clever idea of this art-meets-anthropology documentary. The website Culture Crypt (whoever they are) aptly refers to this as "Exit Through the Gift Shop" or "Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock?" meets "The Blair Witch Project". That is pretty much spot on.Unfortunately for the film, as strong as the first hour is, things tend to fall apart in the last fifteen or twenty minutes. If the film were to stay as good right on through, it would be a hit. But, sadly, this was not to be.

(Warning: some spoilers in second half. Read the first half for a quick look). I feel like this movie is very underrated. I read the many bad (and some good) reviews, became unsure, but gave this movie a shot and I do not regret my decision. You can't look at this movie realistically. I looked at this movie as a myth/urban legend put together as a film and ended up loving it. I will admit it got confusing at times and it had it's moments of "Why would you do that?" but if you pay attention everything makes sense. Truly. In short, this movie is about nightmares and what we do to keep them at bay. It takes a look at the consequences that happen to those who mess with nightmares. Look at the movie like that and you will enjoy it a lot more.More in depth: Mr. Jones is just the nickname given to an unknown man who protects the real world from the dream world. He does so by using these scarecrows, something used often to scare away spirits. It has been used in many cultures throughout history. It's really not hard to understand that. You mess with these wards and you pay the price. That's exactly what happens to the protagonists Penny and Scott. It does get trippy and confusing a little past halfway through but the way I saw it is that as a result of their meddling both of them started to live in their own nightmare, being constantly deceived and tricked by these monsters. They don't know what's real and what's not. That's what a nightmare is like. That's what the two main characters fight through.