Parapsychological thrillers will always interest me. Blending supernatural tension with the complexity of psychology can make for some intriguing themes, many of which may be deemed as thought-provoking. This horror film however, falls short in most areas. Loosely based on the Philip Experiment, a university professor and a group of students experiment on a girl to prove that poltergeists are manifestations of the human psych as opposed to supernatural entities. Sounds interesting right? Correct, and this should've been more intriguing than what was actually executed. My attention was immediately drawn to the experiment. The psychology behind it rather fascinates me, and I appreciate that the screenplay dabbles into the morality and ethics of this test. At the end of the day they are torturing a girl and coagulating all of her negative energy into creating a fictitious character, whether you view that as inhumane of scientifically necessary is left for debate. The script involves you, allowing you to cast your own opinion. Just a shame the characters were incredibly one-dimensional and the thrills were non-existent. The jump scares consisted of extremely loud piercing noises. That was it. I had to pat my sound bar at the end of the film and say "it's alright, you can rest your speakers now...it's done". Harris gives a commanding performance and both Cooke and Claflin support him well. But again, the script doesn't allow any character development to be had. The small use of visual effects were uninspired, but given the extremely low budget I'll let it slide. Then we get to the concluding act and unfortunately it crumbles under its own weight. I would've preferred a more intelligent ending as opposed to a clichéd supernatural twist. It's not that I didn't like it, I just don't necessarily agree with how it was conveyed. It's a shame really, director Pogue had some decent material to work with yet somehow translated what should've been a thrilling horror into an unmemorable bore.

The story behind this film is original and well written. The actors are well known and very good at what they do as well as the director. I would not say this was not a horror movie, but it most certainly was a well organized psychological thriller. It has a relatively slow beginning but grows to be more and more intense through out the film. So if you liked "The Shining", "Paranormal Activity" and "Sinister", I highly recommend this film. Also, If you don't like a particular genre of movie, please don't rate it! It spoils it for others who are looking for a good film. Ex " This movie was too scary" or "i generally don't like..." If you never liked the genre to begin with, chances are you wont like the movie... So don't give it crappy ratings giving false impressions to others!!! Some genres just aren't for you!!!

Although this film was interesting and kept us watching throughout, there were many unanswered questions and plot-holes which we'd have liked to have seen cleared up. The films 'unique' spin on the typical horror story was lacking in that it wasn't original at all - we've seen it all before. Not enough 'scary' parts to keep your mind occupied, either. Although there were a few token jump-scares, the film focused mainly on the plot, which was quite disappointing as the plot itself was lackluster. Maybe I missed an important plot point (Although I was watching avidly throughout to try and figure out the plot before the twist happened) but the film just didn't fit together as seamlessly as I would have liked, and that's why it's better than a three... but only one point better.

Found footage and old? Yes even a couple of decades ago they used to film everything (important), for us to witness horror in its purest form. If my sarcasm wasn't clear enough: Another Found footage movie which is what everyone was shouting for (not). On a more serious note: Jared Harris is a great actor, but even he struggles to convince at certain moments in the movie, especially when his character is doing more twists and turns than the head of Linda Blair in the Exorcist.The relationships are nicely told and can be seen easily. There is the obvious drama, there is the obvious denial (even when faced with proof, on film or otherwise) and there are the obvious horror failings. The movie still looks good (professional camera man you could say and nice setups), but it even the nice twist at the end is not able to save this completely.