Mockingbird (2014)

Writer-director Bryan Bertino started his film career pretty strong. He gave us The Strangers, which a lot of people view as one of the better home invasion horrors in the past couple of decades. He also played a part in giving us the better sequel to that movie. When I discovered Mockingbird, it was in a bundle of movies that I'd mostly heard of. This was one of the only titles I didn't know about. There's a reason for that. It's not good.

Three people are left a video camera on their doorstep, each one thinking they have won it and may have the chance to win something more if they keep recording. You have Tom (Todd Stashwick) and Emmy (Audrey Marie Anderson), a loving couple who also have children, you have Beth (Alexandra Lydon), a young student, and you have Leonard (Barak Hardley), a "momma's boy" who is also given a clown suit, and make-up, along with the camera.

That's the start of everything here. People think they have won a prize, there's some celebration and fun, and then they are told to keep recording or die. So they keep recording. Which all adds up to a found footage horror movie that jumps between the various parties, leaving viewers wondering about the motivation as it builds to a climax that is as predictable as it is decidedly un-shocking, despite what Bertino thinks he is giving the audience.

First of all, the acting from everyone isn't bad. Stashwick and Anderson are the best of the leads, feeling the most authentic as they play around with the camera before things take a turn for the manacing. Lydon is left to flounder around alone, becoming more and more frightened before the other characters, because she's the character who seems the least likely to want to keep using a videocamera without any specific reason. Hardley, given the props of the clown suit and make-up, is okay, but his enthusiasm never feels quite real. It's necessary though, especially as things start to ramp up in the third act.

That's the positive out of the way then. I have nothing more. At all.

Bertino obviously thought he had something worthy of a movie here, he had an idea of using the video footage to create something with multiple strands that will ultimately start to twine together before the end credits roll. It just doesn't work. This is due to a number of reasons. One, we don't really care about any of the characters. Two, it doesn't solidify the threat to make it convincing that people would keep recording. Three, viewers will see what is coming a mile away as it all leads up to the grand finale. Four, it all gets harder and harder to believe as the plot becomes more interconnected and complex, which is even sillier when you get a reveal at the very end of the film.

I've already seen a lot of bad horror movies this year, but this feels like one of the worst of them. It's competently done, in some ways, but it's also completely mishandled throughout. One to avoid, and one to stay at the bottom of a barrel until it is forgotten by everyone. Which hopefully includes myself.

2/10

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