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Reviews
Tom's Video (2012)
Intriguing...
***Contains spoilers***
I should never have seen Tom's Video". This is the conclusion that the seemingly disturbed film student Robert Kassai tells the viewer at the very beginning of the film, stirring up their curiosity from the first moment.
In a German village a whole family disappears without a trace. The relatives and neighbours of the Schellenbergs as well as the police are at a loss as even a one-year investigation gives no insight as to what might have happened to the mother Ruth, her new husband Walter and the children Tom and Severine. Robert Kassai learns about the story and wants to make it the subject of a documentary film. However, his own investigations at the village, interviewing the neighbours and Walter's mother as well as examining the family's home, remain inconclusive until one night a videotape mysteriously turns up in his apartment. It's "Tom's Video", the video diary of the 16-year-old son of the lost family. Any hope of finding answers in that video are soon shattered, tough. The clips showing the Schellenbergs' family life are unspectacular at first, but the number of peculiar events is mounting in the course of the video. There is definitely something weird going on, but what could it be? Watching the video, Robert himself is somehow entangled in the mystery he is trying to solve, and he suffers a trauma that lands him in a psychiatric hospital. His colleague Anne von Buskow eventually completes the documentary he began, only that his own fate has now become a part of it. The film leaves the viewer rather perplexed, forcing them to try and make sense out the events that took place.
The pseudo-documentary "Tom's Video" requires a little patience on the viewer's part. Especially the first chapter, which shows the film student's investigation, moves pretty slowly, with the examination of the house being particularly drawn-out. It still provides a decent introduction into the subject matter, the interviews and the people all appear real. The film becomes more interesting when the subsequent found-footage part (the actual "Tom's Video" as a film within the film) makes the viewer a witness to the not always harmonious family life of the Schellenbergs. This is portrayed rather realistically through improvised dialogues and fortunately never feels contrived. Tom himself comes across as a normal teenager dealing with experiences and conflicts typical for a boy in the middle of puberty. We later learn that since the family fell apart he has been plagued with psychological problems and is treated with medication. His rebellion against his stepfather, whom he perceives as "evil", gradually escalates into a form of delusion, but is he really mentally ill? Or is the stepfather really not the person he appears to be? Is the house haunted by a ghost? Who is operating the video camera anyway? Does it develop a life of its own? The tension is growing subtly, unexplainable things happen until – right at the climax of the spooky goings-on – the video comes to an abrupt end. A moment later it resumes for a few more seconds, probably the most deciding seconds for Robert Kassai, only to break off altogether. The last chapter of the film deals with the psychological effects the viewing of the videotape had on Robert Kassai, showing interviews with his doctor and the therapy sessions she holds with him. Incidentally, Tom makes another appearance, even though it occurs in an unexpected way.
I imagine some people may be bothered by a story that raises more questions than it answers, whereas others find this very mysteriousness so intriguing that their thoughts keep drifting back to a film even days after watching it. That's what happened to me in this case, anyway. It's not only the family's disappearance that remains a mystery, the same applies to numerous other aspects as well: How can Tom's hallucination (if it was one) be on that video? What about the "endless tunnel"? Who placed the tape in Robert Kassai's apartment? The list of questions goes on and on, and that's how the film worked for me, creating subtle suspense by revealing as little information as possible, although I admit that some sequences really could have used a few cuts in order to keep the tension from dropping occasionally. I can understand anyone who finds the film confused or boring, as it does not contain much action and does not really compare to other found-footage films as far as horror or suspense are concerned. A few scary moments do await the viewer, though, and both sound effects and music are well done and used fittingly. The actors also do a fine job and are perfectly cast. Favourite scenes: Walter, the stepfather, standing in the neighbours' garden, and the boy's final desperate attempt to convince his mother that Walter is evil (superbly acted by Moelleken and Kurecki). Nice touch: The end credits maintain the impression of a documentary based on real events. Funny coincidence: The grandmother's character looks a bit like Professor McGonnagall from the Harry Potter movies (but that may just be my imagination
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Summary: An unusual but nonetheless interesting mix of mystery and psychological drama done in a pseudo-documentary style, which will certainly not meet everybody's taste and takes some time to get into.
Grimmsberg (2011)
Not very good...
but I guess the show is okay for an experimental mini-budget web series, which was shot in a studio in front of a green screen with all background images being computer-generated. The story had potential, the main problem, however, is indeed the confused and patchy script and some quite silly dialogue. I can't put much blame on the actors, I'm sure they did what they could with they were given, and they've all done a lot better in other shows. What I did like was the background CGI which - although looking cheap at times - contributed well to the atmosphere and created the proper "fantasy touch" along with the sound effects and music. Summary: not a total failure, but not a very successful experiment, either.