The initial tableau: The (fictional) Atticus Institute was founded in the early 1970s to study exceptional persons who might have ESP abilities: telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, for instance. They find hundreds of subjects, find a few weak espers, and get conned at least once. Then they meet Judith Winstead.Delineation of conflicts: West's children still care about their distant father, and are discouraged when the Institute clearly has a bad effect on him. The Institute staff have great talent, but dealing with an incredibly bad-tempered test subject is quite a challenge. As they continue to observe Judith, it becomes clear that they are dealing with something besides ESP. Just what is it? They call in an expert from the DIA (defence intelligence agency), Robert Koepp. His presence seems to make it much worse. Will Judith's ability be diagnosed correctly? If so, what will the DIA (and DOD) decide to do with it during the Cold War?Resolution: The attempts of 1970s science to deal with the supernatural were worth a watch.Proceeded in reportorial style. The motivations were reasonably well mapped out, except for the starting points. How things would proceed once the military took control made sense, but how Judith came to the early state (when she first entered the Institute) was still murky to me at the end.

I didn't know about this movie prior to coming across it by sheer random luck. I read the synopsis and it did seem adequate. So I sat down to watch "The Atticus Institute".But I must admit that I lost interest fairly quickly into the movie. Why? Well, simply because the storyline failed to captivate, and the characters in the movie weren't particularly interesting or detailed.And the whole documentary-style to the movie didn't really appeal to me either. I am sure that some will enjoy the style in which the movie is filmed and set up, but it just didn't sit well with me."The Atticus Institute" just never took off. It started out okay, but then it just thrummed into a monotone pace and never gained momentum.As for the acting, well that was actually what worked in favor of the movie, but it was nowhere enough to lift up the movie or salvage the movie as it spiraled off course.My interest quickly wandered to my phone while watching "The Atticus Institute", and it never fully managed to lure me back. This was a rather boring movie and one that will be very quickly forgotten. A dull movie with an equally dull storyline. Don't waste your time or money on this movie.

This is one of those films that are,unfortunately,overlooked by so many people.It's not a massive film,it's low budget and wasn't in the cinema(not to my knowledge,anyway). The film was shot as if it was a documentary,and I think it was done very well,almost like the film 'The Devil Inside', although I did not think much to that. Anyway, 'The Atticus Institution' is great. It is different to many horror films we get lately. It's deliverance is better,and more real. And at times,you forget you are watching a film. The fact this is based very much so on true events makes this so much more real to the viewers. Although it didn't actually scare me,I can see how this film can scare some people,as the events that happen in this film are...well,scary as anything. I would advise anyone to watch this, it's a great film, and I would even watch it again.

'The Atticus Institute' is a documentary. Only it isn't. It's one of those films that is shot like one, yet scripted – I think they call them a 'mockumentary.' I've seen the genre before and they can be pretty entertaining; normally they're quite funny and this one is supposed to be scary. It's about the first 'government sponsored' institute which studies the paranormal. The story is about the facility's first 'genuine' patient with paranormal abilities.Therefore you get a load of 'talking head' interviews shoved in every few scenes. It's set in the seventies, so all the scenes 'recorded' back then are nice and grainy, while the 'interviews' are supposed to be filmed with modern cameras, therefore being clearer in picture quality. Yes, both sorts are well-filmed. The overall effect is certainly one of watching a documentary on past times. Only the interviews totally take you out of what little scary mood has been created (and there's not much of that to begin with). Whoever's being interviewed basically tells you a bit about what happened back in the past and then we see what they've already said in grainy 'stock' footage.So, everything that's going to happen is first told to us by an interviewee. And you can probably guess what's going to happen anyway. Once the institute gets its first 'real' person with psychic abilities then you know it's going to go wrong for them. And it does. Only it doesn't really crank up the mood to anything because it's being told to us in retrospect and you sort of already know what's happened because it's all taken place already (that's assuming you couldn't guess what happened anyway).And, what few scares are in here aren't that scary. The lynchpin of any 'found footage' film is that it doesn't have much of a budget. And it shows here. Basically, if you like horror films, there are better. And, if you like 'found footage' films then you'll probably have seen better also.Plus there's a British actress who plays one of the doctors who completely overacts every time she's interviewed. She wound me up.