Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
This October I decided to watch and review some of those great horror movies (31 to be exact) that I missed on their initial release. And for Part 5 of my series of the 31 OF THE BEST HORROR MOVIES YOU (MAY HAVE) MISSED we will be checking out found footage horror Resolution. Let’s get to it:
Day 5 of 31: Resolution (2012)
Director: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
Starring: Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, Emily Montague
IMDb Trivia: A hand-drawn picture of the front cover of the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead series can be seen hanging on the wall to the right of Michael’s mattress.
Plot: A man imprisons his estranged junkie friend in an isolated cabin in San Diego to force him through a week of sobriety. But the events of that week are being strangely manipulated by an unseen force.
Review: Found footage horror is my favourite kind of horror…said no horror fan ever! I’m exaggerating somewhat, but I personally don’t know anyone who has this particular sub-genre of horror as a personal favourite. That said, credit has to be given where it’s due. And even though I’m not a huge fan, there are a handful of found footage movies I thoroughly enjoyed, especially when the format is utilised in a way that works cohesively with the story. And for me, Resolution is a fantastic example of found footage done right.
It’s a bit difficult to review Resolution without getting into spoiler territory as the story here is anything but straightforward. Written and co-directed by Justin Benson, Resolution is a movie that requires you to pay very close attention to what’s occurring, and even then you may still need to watch it a few times over to figure out exactly what Benson is putting down. But when you do, it not only makes the multiple viewings worthwhile (or maybe you’re smarter than me and you’ll Sherlock it in one go), it also takes this small budget movie to the kind of meta levels Christopher Nolan would be proud of.
Again, I can’t go into too much details without spoiling this so I’ll just leave off by saying Resolution is an expertly-crafted story that deserves a lot more attention than it’s probably received. It reminds me of horror films of the ’60s and ’70s where low budget didn’t necessarily mean low quality, especially if you had the talent, the passion and the drive to get your vision out there no matter what.
And here’s an extra bit of trivia for you—if you’ve seen The Endless (also written and directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead) that movie takes place in the same universe as Resolution, so you can watch both and figure out for yourself exactly how they work as a whole.
One of the best found footage horror movies out there, Resolution is the genre at its best.
Sommer’s Score: 7.5 out of 10
You can check out Part 4 of 31 Days my list Grabbers below as well as found footage horror REC:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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