Afflicted (2014) [Blu-ray]
Horror | Thriller

This terrifying horror thriller follows two best friends who set out on the trip of a lifetime around the world. Their journey, documented every step of the way, soon takes a dark and unexpected turn after an encounter with a beautiful woman in Paris leaves one of them mysteriously afflicted. Winner: Best Picture (Horror), Best Screenplay (Horror), Best Director (Horror) at Fantastic Fest, and recipient of awards of recognition from the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. Afflicted is one of the most suspenseful and original action horror debuts in a generation.

Storyline: Best friends Derek and Clif set out on a trip of lifetime. Their plan: travel to the ends of the earth, see the world, and live life to the fullest. But the trip soon takes a dark and bloody turn. Just days in, one of the men shows signs of a mysterious affliction which gradually takes over his entire body and being. Now, thousands of miles from home, in a foreign land, they must race to uncover the source before it consumes him completely. Footage meant to be travel memories may now become evidence of one of the most shocking discoveries ever captured on film...and perhaps will be their only postcard home. Written by CBS Films

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, June 28, 2014 -- With the rare exception of a movie like Cloverfield, the "found footage" motion picture usually signals one thing, a movie made "on the cheap" (relative to the typical Hollywood production) and with a small crew and one that is, unfortunately, frequently just not all that inspiring. What started with The Blair Witch Project -- a movie that's grossly overrated and laughably not scary in this reviewer's humble opinion -- has become a certifiable craze and spawned countless knock-offs and different takes on the genre, from the ridiculous (Alien Origin) to a staple franchise (Paranormal Activity). With considerably smaller production values, these sorts of films absolutely require a gripping story and a visual seamlessness to sell the illusion. Anything less and the result is nothing short of a cinematic disaster of nauseating shaky cams, bad characters, and an empty plot. Afflicted nearly rewrites the genre. It's the best of its kind since Cloverfield, a tight, very well done, smart, savvy, frightening, mysterious, and intense story of a pair of world travelers who document their experiences on the Internet and run afoul of, as the title suggests, a terrible affliction that will leave a bloody trail across Europe while in search of answers and a way out.

Longtime friends Derek (Derek Lee) and Clif (Clif Prowse) have dabbled in filmmaking and are now setting off on a vacation of a lifetime, a trip around the world that they will document via the miracle of the Internet and even interact with fans and fulfill viewer requests along the way. The only thing that could go wrong, it would seem, would be Derek's AVM, a medical condition which has left him with "a tangle of screwed up blood vessels in his brain" that could ultimately cripple or kill him. Against his doctor's better judgment, he sets off on the expedition with his friend. They meet a few pals and pick up a few women. One evening, Clif and a few friends pull a prank on Derek but find him sick in bed, wounded on the head and shoulder. The expedition continues, but Derek's condition deteriorates until it becomes obvious that, even while sick, he's gained incredible powers: super strength, inhuman speed, and regeneration. In essence, he becomes a superhero, but it will soon become clear that he's anything but.

It must be nice to have the kind of scratch required to amass an impressive camera collection, never mind spend a year -- and who knows how much money -- traveling the world just because it sounds like a fun thing to do. That sort of inaccessible plot drive device aside, Afflicted does a tremendous job of pulling the audience into the story, beside the characters, and into the darkness, mayhem, and terror that follows them. What begins as a template for reality television -- a fun, energetic, open, friendly, and absorbing character introduction sequence that smartly covers all the angles that will later in the film become crucial plot elements -- quickly morphs into a gritty, strongly realized, no-nonsense examination of one man's brutal inward and outward transformation into something that's dramatically relatable (best to watch the movie to discover what's actually happening to the man) and visually arresting, even in the P.O.V. footage frame. From Derek's experimentation to downfall, from his total collapse to his bloody search for the truth, the film feels fully believable and engaging even as it delves deeply into the implausible and even impossible.

Though the film benefits from that tight, well-paced, smartly realized story, it wouldn't work nearly as well without its exceptionally well constructed lead characters and equally strong performances from the men who portray them. Derek Lee (not the ex-baseball player) and Clif Prowse are really quite good in every aspect their roles require. Whether those aforementioned introductory scenes that establish a couple of very likable people with real substance and a tangible bond or the darkest, lowest point of their lives, the actors shine. Certainly, the film's characters suffer from a few convenient "duh" moments in an effort to allow the plot to continue on -- Clif's almost blind friendship and loyalty ultimately seems to get in the way of him doing the right thing and going to get his friend real help rather than let the condition progress too far -- but a few minor gripes aside, the film proves very powerfully and convincingly done, and even the "found footage" angle at least makes contextual sense in today's "easy" YouTube fame world. Still, parts of the movie may have worked better were it a straightforward, "real" movie, but at least in this way it sets itself apart from something similar like An American Werewolf in London and it does reinvigorate the genre and restore one's hope for it.

Afflicted is really one of the better Horror films to come along in the past few years. It's driven, tight, fun, freaky, and frightening. The movie makes good use of the "found footage"/"P.O.V." style very well, highlighted by an amazing sequence in the third act that's quite unlike anything seen before in a movie like this. A great script, quality characters, and superb acting elevate Afflicted and place it amongst the best off its kind, Horror or "found footage" alike. Sony's Blu-ray release of Afflicted is disappointingly short on extras, but video quality satisfies under the constraints and the audio is decent. Highly recommended on the strength of the film.

[CSW] -0.5- Blair Vampire Project. If he says "Are you ok?" one more time I'm going to explode. I should have learned my lesson about found footage horror films a long time ago. But noooo… I get them knowing that the very, very shaky, mostly out of focus, sporadically lit, and usually very dark cinematography, combined with no real plot will make them almost unwatchable. But this one was worse than normal. Besides the obviously lousy script, the acting and direction were terrible. I need to bypass all the ever annoying shaky-cam found footage films altogether. Maybe this one so bad that it finally taught me enough of that lesson to make me skip them from now on, at least I hope so.
[V3.0-A3.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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