Jay Hunter's Journal of Horror Films

You're Next (2013)
Production: Starring Sharni Vinson (Cassie Turner in Home and Away) and directed by Adam Wingard (VHS2 - "Phase I Clinical Trials" ie the best one in VHS2)

Quick disclaimer: I generally avoid this subgenre of horror as the whole "Bad stuff happens, we never find out why because that's scarier", feels like an excuse for extended periods of forced emotion/screaming/wailing which becomes irritating, and with no story to go on, makes the these films seem really samey and unengaging. I've only heard good things about "You're Next" so made an exception.

Thoughts on the film:
• Plot: A retired couple invite their children and significant others to their house to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
• 'Correct' use of nudity! There's some at the start of the film which I think entices viewers to stick around long enough to hopefully get interested in the film instead.
• You know the silly horror trope of someone's looking around and a friend grabs their shoulder? The perp says "I'm trying to scare you" and grins. Appreciated that!
• We get my hated 'everyone SCREAMS their heads off' scene for a solid few minutes but then we're alright.
• I assume by design, I only liked one person from the cast (the protagonist). They did a good job of showing you the grind of family get-togethers, relatives sniping at each other etc. Not so great caring for them in a horror film though.
• The white animal masks are kinda cool, not the scariest masks but they're memorable.
• It's well paced and the full plot is revealed about 55 minutes into the film, which changes the tone of the film, which is a big positive.
• We get explanations on motives which I appreciated.
• Action/'I'm getting confident' scenes have this funky 'Terminator 1' synth music playing during those parts, which did lighten the mood (I found it a bit silly). There are parts which are definitely played for a cheer and are successful.

*Small* gripes about the film • These are small gripes and don't affect the enjoyment of the film.

Overall, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film, especially for a genre I'd don't prefer. It has an interesting story, and although it gets less tense and more action-orientated towards the end, it was engaging throughout. I'd recommend.

Hollow (2011)
Plot: 4 friends (on-the-rocks couple Emma and James and their friends Lynne and Scott) arrive in a family country house where many suicides happened previously, more specifically hangings using a large, hollow tree nearby.

Thoughts on the film:
• This is a found footage (via handheld camera) film. As the movie is "police evidence", kayfabe-wise I always find it funny that someone's taken the time to edit it into a tight narrative, including jump-scares.
• Since the budget is extremely low, it's tiresome to see the actors constantly making something out of nothing. 'Scares' come via quiet-sudden-noise cheap startling, strange sounds, rustling, bangs, microphone whooshes, screams, friendlies creep up from behind etc. (i.e cheapest of the cheap). This is almost a student film.
• The Englishmen are extremely laddish and it's quite grating. As in, strip poker and a guy hides his genitals using a Jesus statue grating. Snort coke, drive to the church, shout out at the Vicar type stuff. There's also a bit of a love triangle too which is fine.
• Lots of pitch black, low-light situations, mostly mooching around a house or running around the countryside/Suffolk's Leiston Abbey.
• There is brief nudity (a guy puts the camera in the bathroom) and it's quickly spotted but the woman isn't that mad about it.
• With a working car they find reasons to stick around: 1) need to wait to give the keys back, and 2) one of them runs off.
• Exposition is via files left in the house and a fisherman.
• There's a few nice touches; there's a shot of one of the girls through a mirror, and the curtains make it look like you're seeing her through a noose, I found out later that Scott ties the baggage to the car roof using a hangman's knot. Unfortunately there's also the trendy Blair Witch 'camera up the nose' shot.
• Seems kinda silly that the woman says the demon/spirit feeds off you being scared, but doesn't try combat that. The folklore says you're hypnotised into committing suicide, as a couple, so yeah...stay in the car! Also, there were no couples by the time of the attack. Also, phones don't have lights apparently. This is getting nit-picky but I'm trying to explain why I didn't enjoy the film. If it were great it'd be much easier to look past the flaws.

Overall: The ridiculous 6.5/10 on IMDB is way off. Being generous, it's 3.5/10 at best. Acting is fine enough, but I didn't care for them, the film is so cheap and lazy...I've seen worse but there's very little to redeem the film. What's that? An scary anorak? Ah, cmon. Avoid.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Plot: Perfume is a German-made film set in 18th Century France, about the life story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whisaw aka Q in James Bond's Skyfall), an orphan with a superior sense of smell, who murders in pursuit of capturing the scents of women.

Thoughts on the film:
• The world is fleshed out well (highlighting the grimy, unhygienic time period), with wonderful cinematography, beautiful scenery, a grand scope, and an impressive crowd scene. Combined with the story it might come off as pretentious but I thought it worked well, Whisaw is very believable in the role.
• It moves along at a nice pace from birth, to child, to finding himself in the perfume industry. Sadly the film's length (2 1/2 hours) really starts to drag as his final goal comes apparent.
• His trial and error refining of techniques is interesting.
• The jump from enjoying scents to obsession of a perfect scent by being an adept, murdering psychopath is a bit of a leap.
• Dustin Hoffman is poor in this film. It just seems like Dustin Hoffman is in a movie. Alan Rickman does a better job but you never forget that it's Alan Rickman. Both were first choice casting though.
• His power of scent is tantamount to a superpower by the end of the film.
• The payoff/end sequence is quite slow, but fitting and surprising. It's like the film didn't want to end, which ultimately hurt the overall experience.

Overall: It's a well made film, but my interest was drained before the credits rolled - could've edited out half an hour. Definitely mostly drama with elements of horror. I wouldn't seek it out but it is a fine watch.

The Loved Ones (2009)

Plot: Australian Indie "trapped-and-try-to-escape"/dark comedy horror film. Brent (Xavier Samuel) is kidnapped by the unrequited Lola (Robin McLeavy) and her father, and forced to endure their own home-spun sadistic prom night. During this his family looks for him, and his friend Jamie takes his date to the prom.

Thoughts on the film:

• As you can see there's one serious plotline, a more dramatic one one, and an outright coming-of-age comedy one. The latter two are supposed to be a bit of reprieve from the torture (it intentionally lowers the impact the violence has) but I found it to muddle the tone and slow the film. I just wanted to see what happens to Brent, the other happenings are of much less importance relative to the peril Brent is in.
• That said, there are definitely some moments played for laughs/cheers and they hit the mark.
• The film is quite low budget ($4m) and it's hard to see where most of it went. The film mostly takes place in people's houses and the backarse of Melbourne!
• I love the 'chance to escape' early in the capture, it really increases the tension (as we don't know if the film turns into a victim revenge plot)
• Having been medically trained, I must nitpick: Lola uses a syringe to apparently inject bleach into Brent's voicebox (so he can't talk/scream). How this could possibly be contained to his larynx and not cause severe tracheal damage/suffocate him...just go with it. It just stops him talking.
• I would like to know more about Lola and her secret trap door. What we get is sufficient to tell the story of the film though.
• Almost every horror film is guilty of this (so it keeps the film going) but it annoys me that when victims have bad guys on the ropes, they try to escape instead of finishing the job.

Overall: Sad to say, it was just alright. I'm quite shocked at the huge positive response to the film. It's fine but I wouldn't recommend.

Triangle (2009)
Plot: British-made film starring Melissa George (the Sheriff's wife in 30 Days of Night) as Jess, a woman caught in a murderous time loop aboard a 'deserted' cruise ship.

Thoughts on the film:
• The idea of this film is really great, I love the gimmick of time-looping paradoxes.
• The characters aren't that likeable, especially the protagonist, who is generally a catatonic crazy woman - so spending the film with her makes it less enjoyable!
• The storyline mostly makes sense, except for explaining the initial 'loop' (a common problem with time-loop stories) and the multiple dead bodies - I feel it was included just because it looks really cool.
• It bugged me how quickly she conformed to the horrific murder loop, . It's like she did whatever the plot needed her to do - maybe since she was in a state of shock she'd do anything, but if felt it was to keep the pace up or the running time down to 99 minutes.
• The strong parts of the movie are the initial mystery after boarding the ship, and the final 15 minutes, where the movie tries to make sense of itself.
• The soundtrack is fine except for this cheesy melancholic piano with child/woman singing the notes, which is unintentionally hilarious. It's straight out of The Simpsons' Horror parody "The Redeadening".

Overall it's a really cool idea, executed average at best. Pretty half-baked, wouldn't recommend.

Hellraiser (1987)
Plot: Clive Barker's adaption of his own novella, "The Hellbound Heart". A strained married couple move back into a would-be abandoned family home. There, the wife's secret lover's corpse (Frank) is partially alive and asks to bring him victims in order to make him whole again. Frank became this way after opening a puzzle box, which opens a portal for monsters ("Cenobites") to enact incredible pain and pleasure on him. It sounds siller writing it out but it's perfectly acceptable in the movie!

Thoughts on the film:
• An Iconic horror movie and encyclopaedia of 80s horror special effects! Awesome use of physical props, costume, animatronics, puppets, prosthetic and time-lapse gore, capped off with some animation overlays. The bulk of the film shows Frank regenerating his form, muscles, skin etc to varying degrees, which is just a great prosthetic display. It's the 80s baby!
• About the practical effects: although charming, they're are also hard to take seriously. Watching the film I marvel at how it was practically done, rather than it's place in the movie. CG wasn't a viable option and even if it was, it would've been done much worse.
• Hated the wife (Julia), and her 80s-moussed ginger coiffe and business suit! Forlorn moping cheater, murderer - hated her character, no sympathy for her duress. Felt bad for the bread-winning, gormless, lackey husband. It explains why he's oblivious to the murder room in his house!
• The puzzle cube is pretty cool. If this were made today they'd market that prop front and centre.
• The hospital's treatment of the teenage daughter (Kirsty) is ridiculous. They bat away her statements of family endangerment and lock her in her room. She's not in a mental institution!
• This film isn't really about the Cenobites, Frank is the driving force of the film. It's expounded that they are neither good nor evil, although oddly they do come across as more good (the enemy of Frank), despite looking incredibly evil. They're not prominent enough though, so even before the credits rolled I wanted to see more of them! In all there are 9 Hellraiser films. Clive Barker is only involved with this one.
• I feel bad for the other Cenobites, only "Lead Cenobite" Pinhead is remembered! Their designs are really very unique, and grossly cool. Especially "Chattering Cenobite", he's awesome and looks like the inspiration for Resident Evil baddies.

Overall: It's such a surreal film. I don't think the story or human characters are that enjoyable, but the practical effects and monster designs are absolutely fantastic. And the Cenobites are extremely cool. So definitely watch it. But I'm sure you already have!

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Plot: Picking up from the first film, Kirsty (the daughter) works to escape a psychiatric hospital, in order to journey to the another dimension, in hopes of saving her father.

Good things about the movie:
• I'm a big fan of sequels that continue the story right where the prior film left off. Most of the cast from the 1st film return as well.
• They recap the first film during a Kirsty's psych evaluation - I thought it was a useful and not-hamfisted way to get the audience up to speed.
• Julia (the mother from the first film) has a wonderful no-skin prosthetic outfit.
• Tearing skin off regenerated bodies is a cool practical effect.
• The new doctor Cenobite monster (and how it's form related to how he died) is pretty sweet.
• Of course, the Cenobite prosthetics are the coolest thing about the film.
• That's it.

Bad things about the movie:
• The story is poor, starting with the cliched evil psychiatric doctor (who grabs a regenerating Julia's breast - never mind how she should be in pain regrowing her flesh), Julia herself is now empowered (?!) and is baffling how she could've escaped the realm of the Cenobites.
• However those pale in comparison to the HORRENDOUS reveal about the Cenobites. The Cenobites - some of film's coolest monsters - were are actually boring humans. Not aliens from another realm, just regular Joe Blows. We see their original forms - some blonde woman, some little kid. Pinhead himself is some gormless bald lad from the army. It's a giant slap in the face. I imagine the film wanted to leave breadcrumbs for answering "they're human?! So who was actually in charge to begin with!" but not only is it not answered, seeing them in this fashion irreparably damages the franchise's best characters, in my opinion.
• The film uses Julia and the evil doc as main villains (and sadly, not the Cenobites, again). Julia is nowhere near as hot as this film portrays her to be (although that's not her fault!)
• Parts of this film contradict the first - First film: you opened the box, we're taking you. This film: you opened it, nah, we're looking for the one who desires it.
• Despite some cool practical effects, there's some hokey props like the baby and toy skeletons engaging in sex.
• The film's audio suffers from deathly quiet whispering followed by eardrum-bursting loudness.
Major concessions to get this film made:
• Despite the film being about finding the father, he's not in the movie. Not even some guy in a no-skin prosthetic.
• The film was commissioned a week after the first released, and was made within a year, not by author Clive Barker, but with a new director and writer. Alarm bells should be ringing!
• The film obviously wanted Julia to be it's figurehead (Hellraiser 2 features her as the most prominent antagonist) but the actress declined, so they changed up the final shot of the pillar to Pinhead.
• Julia's no-skin prosthetic outfit is great, but they almost immediately bandage her up, so the actress doesn't have to wear it. Only a few scenes later they give her skin, so it was an unnecessary cop-out.

This film reminds me of Jurassic Park and it's sequel. The first was on a remote island. Thinking about the setting of a sequel, wouldn't it be cool to see dinosaurs trashing up a populated city e.g. New York? Yeah! That's what they did, but the film is absolutely terrible. In Hellraiser, they mention the Cenobites are from another world, so I hoped the sequel would show me their world - and they do! Sadly, it's just ok. Some parts were cool (a pseudo morgue with ghost cadavers) but mostly it's shot in this uninspired branching concrete corridor. The idea is far better than the execution. A small point, but I'm not a fan of adding prefixes or suffixes to film franchises either (e.g. Resident Evil: Apocalypse) - just numbers will do fine!

Overall: This film quickly shows you it's a mess. The plot is needlessly incoherent and cheap, and the focus is on the wrong characters. Even if you can explain my grievances, it's still a bad story. The cool prosthetic effects aren't close to masking the poverty of the film. Bored the arse off me. Sadly, avoid.

Hellraiser 4: Bloodline (1996)

Plot: The film is set in three timeframes, past (France), present (America), and future (Space), chronicling the puzzle box's creator and his descendants. This film is the last to involve author Clive Barker, the last to be shown in theatres, and the last to keep chronology with the previous films.

Thoughts on the film:
• 18th Century FRANCE: The puzzle box's creator (Philip Lemarchand) discovers it's to be used for dark magic and tries to retrieve it. This was the strongest/mosting interesting part of the film, with it's period setting and archaic methods (sacrificing, conjuring)
• 20th Century AMERICA: A Cenobite slave (Angelique) finds Lemarchand's only living descendant (John Merchant), who along with Hellraiser aims to open/close a doorway to hell. This is the meat of the film, and it's quite unmemorable.
• Futuristic 2127 SPACE: Their descendant (Paul Merchant) has the puzzle box in Space Station Minos, and is captured by guards, and tells the preceding two stories before the film's finale. This setting, oh man. It feels like the franchise is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's impossible to not see it - the film takes from much better sci-film films/TV shows (Aliens' corridor set, Terminator - even has twin cops, Red Dwarf; there's a guy named Rimmer!) They use naff-looking CG robot hands working on the puzzle box, and embarrassingly dated CG Power Gloves! However the warping effect used is improved from last time.
• Unfortunately the story is quite laboured and not presented clearly - motivations and tropes changed to suit as required, I felt it damaged immersion. Like Hellraiser 3 made a big hoopla about Cenobites needing someone to give them the cube - not in this film.
• Even though the space portion is pretty lame, I appreciate more exposition/lore/the origins of the franchise.
• Hopping between time-frames (especially space and 18th century France) is quite jarring. It's like the film felt like none of these stories were worth a full film. The camera moves themselves were a stylish improvement. (eg guards looking around a corner with a flashlight, seamlessly transitioned to a scene with Pinhead).
• More re-writing of the rules of the franchise, which I hate. "If you summon a demon you command them, unless you get in hell's way". Pinhead informs Angelique that Hell has revised it's ideologies. PARDON? Was there a committee meeting with notepads and pens?
• Pinhead is now complete evil (despite the ending of Hellraiser 3), delighting in inflicting pain.
• He now has a hellhound, which is a cool idea, but the rubber animatronic puppet is not good. The running CG dog actually looked more convincing - stick to just casting a shadow.
• Women seducing men to follow them is a nice call-back to the first film
• Nudity watch: Hellraiser 3 had scaled back nudity (sex, man grabbing/covering breasts), this has breasts shown but in a darkened room
• Less cheesy 1-liners, but we there's contradicting ones, ostensibly just to sound cool. Pinhead says "Oh it is a game and you will play." and then later "No time for games."
• Flashlights have awful battery life in the present & future! Security guards and swat team both run empty in the film. (I'm sure it's just a cheap horror trope to increase tension)
• If Paul Merchant wanted results he should've said "I captured an alien and it's deadly", he wouldn't have had to be detained tell the backstory! Ha, just a nitpick but that portion goes for some big stoic gravitas but falls on it's face.

Overall: Beyond the new Cenobite outfits and seeing the origin of the box, there's few laudable aspects and many overarching problems: The story is convoluted, poorly presented and plainly just isn't that good. There's not much gore to distract you either. It's 3 below-average mini-films that were hog-tied together. Not recommended. Such a shame as the France portion could made for a great flick by itself.

Good to hear! It's next on the list. This waiting for a film that features Pinhead/Cenobites primarily - or maybe it's for the best (like Episode 1-3 didn't do the character of Darth Vader any favours!)

Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker (2002)
Plot: After recklessly causing his car to crash into a river, Trevor Gooden (Dean Winters) survives whilst his wife disappears entirely. Shockingly, his wife is Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) from the first two films! Much like the last entry into the franchise, Trevor has vivid hallucinations; mostly women throwing themselves at him with morbid consequences. These visions get increasingly frequent and we question whether the murders happened or are in his head. Inter-spliced are trips to the police station, flashbacks of his wife and obtaining the box, as detectives uncover the disappearance and Trevor's memory slowly returns.

Thoughts on the film:
• Reality or not, dude has ladies tripping all over him; whether it's his hot boss wanting sex, the next door neighbour strip-teasing or his masseuse straddling him. Nice.
• Nudity watch: There are brief flashes of breasts.
• There's a cool sequence where Trevor denies his boss sex. With the camcorder still recording, it still shows them on the TV (despite her having left already). He even puts his hand in front of the camera, the hand being superimposed over them, before she gets killed by Cenobites. Pretty cool. It's very odd to see her asphyxiated with a plastic bag (that is not Cenobyte M.O.) but it makes sense by the end of the film.
• There is more Pinhead in the film and a reason for him being around, although nearly not enough! There's an extended revelation scene where Pinhead and Kirsty talk more about her family, joining the films together. It really should have been included.
• Links to Hellraiser 5: The characteristic black tongues appear as a parasite that Trevor coughs up. Again on earth, the Cenobites are the stalking men in faceless masks and suits. The film also has a similar tormented hallucination storyline.
• Links to the franchise: The idea of being split into two (good and evil) is brought up, like the two halves of pinhead from Hellraiser 2. Pinhead is back to being a purveyor of intense sensory experiences, and also a keeper of souls. The Cenobites don't get enough screen time (again).
• The closing explanation/revelation is riddled with plot holes but I enjoyed it, even if Dean Winters' acting whilst in chains & excruciating pain is so deadpan it's hilarious. They show some old and new Cenobites in the classic chain room, which is really appreciated.

Spoiler thoughts:
Overall: Hellraiser 6 comes off as a less intelligent version of Hellraiser 5, but it feels much more like a Hellraiser film (and not just another script re-written to be in this franchise). It's an easy, casual watch but I wouldn't bother. I am optimistic having Kirsty Cotton back though...See you for Hellraiser 7? No, she never returns, sadly.

Hellraiser 8: Hellworld (2005)

Plot: Chelsea (Katheryn Winnick) and her group of Pinhead fans go to a secret Hellraiser mansion party, hosted by an unnamed man (Lance Henriksen). Their friend Adam died following his addiction to the online Hellraiser-themed videogame "Hellworld". The film takes place during the party (basically a club setting) as the friends split up and explore the mansion/try get laid.

Thoughts on the film:
• I mentioned Pinhead fans. Yes, like in the Scream franchise, the characters are aware of the Hellraiser films! I think it's a cool gimmick. Unfortunately it doesn't explain how Hellraiser films exist in a world where Pinhead actually exists!
• It's surreal seeing Hellraiser portrayed as a commerical entity (a Pinhead t-shirt, giant ornamental puzzle box, website games etc) and hearing them iterate the rules ("I'm not scared of Cenobites. I didn't even open the lament configuration box!") Even when confronted with death, Chelsea starts arguing with her predicament, listing out the tropes of the franchise. Highly enjoyed that.
• Same general gimmick since film 5, where the protagonists get disturbing, disorienting hallucinations. Feels pretty played out this time around.
• Although released in 2005, this film feels like it was written in the 90s, complete with obtrusive generic rock music cheapening any suspense: When the men see breasts, Derrick quips "Gratuitous tit shot!" Allison sees a KEEP OUT sign, and proclaims "Yeah right. As if!" and goes in anyway. Further dating the film, they use Nokia 3310s! Well at least it'll survive a trip to hell and after thousands of years it'll still be on half battery
• Chelsea seems nice and is pretty, although is generally clueless. Jake blames the group for Adam's death, and is a stroppy, condescending prat in the movie. It's perfectly expounded here when he's seemingly in a room with ghosts and whines "why are you all ignoring me?" ...Why would he be at the Hellworld party? Ah, he met a girl on an online chat forum, has no idea what she looks like but she's here.
• I was a little upset that Pinhead was killing people with actual physical objects (eg a meat cleaver) but thankfully Cenobites use the classic chains/hooks. In this, Pinhead just wants to inflict pain (i.e. he's plain evil).
• We get to see the "Banded Cenobite" (black tape covering his eyes and mouth) and the Chatterer Cenobite (named "Melted Face Cenobite" in the film) which are cool. Oddly Chelsea's dead friends come back as, well, dead friends, as opposed to Cenobites (which you'd expect and would've been far cooler)
• I really appreciated Chelsea calling the cops, the cops arriving, and how they're sent away. Something you don't see enough in films. If I were her I would've smashed the window to get attention (even if it wouldn't have helped in her situation)
• The "goodbye, assh*le" line and roundhouse kick is so cheesy.
• The revelation at the end was interesting and satisfactory, even if the time frame is a little off. (A group drug-induced hallucination via Sodium Mannitol...which is non-hallucinogenic! It's used to lower intercranial pressure after head trauma, and illegally used to cut heroin). The Host set this all up, so he made a wildly popular videogame? How could he input the invitations to Hellworld into the game otherwise?

Overall: The acting, effects, little gore, there's nothing truly bad about it - it's just no good. I enjoyed the idea of the characters being aware of the Hellraiser films and it's many endings but it's a cheap, straight-to-DVD movie. The tagline "Evil Goes Online." should give you an idea. Avoid.

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I had no idea there were so many of them! Next time I have a few days off I might go through the good ones.

Ha, I'd recommend 1-3-5 and skip the rest. 5 has a good story if you can pardon the straight-to-DVD movie feel of it

Oculus (2014)

Plot: Directed by Mike Flanagan, starring Karen Gillan (Amy from Doctor Who) as Kaylie, who believes an old mirror is responsible for her family tragedy. She convinces her brother to help prove the existence of and overcome the malevolent being that resides within it.

Thoughts on the film:
• The film is partially funded by WWE, but thankfully they had no wrestlers in this, as it's a decent horror film! There is one sole reference - the mirror is from the Levesque house (the surname of WWE's Triple H aka Paul Levesque).
• The movie is shot in two parallel time frames, both in their family home: Current day with Kaylie and Tim in their 20s, trying to draw the being out, and 11 years ago with the two as children, showing the horrific events leading to their parents' death.
• The two stories are slickly intertwined, filling in the backstory whilst mirroring events (sorry) in the current. This includes many seemless camera transitions between the two (eg Kaylie walks up the stairs whilst the young Tim walks down the steps, and we follow him now). It is jarring at first but as you settle into the film you can just enjoy it.
• The past story establishes tropes of the film: plants wither around the mirror, it can cause sensory-manipulation leading to self-harm/delusion, and it's expanded on in current day (Kaylie sees a shattered plate, but refutes it as her camera phone sees nothing).
• It's a dangerous game, but the film does a great job keeping you unsure of whether it's real or an illusion, or whether what they see or the camera is showing is false. This gimmick fell apart in Hellraiser 7 & 8, but it works very well here.
• Tension is effectively built up and it doles out jump scares mixed with actual (unexpected) scary moments. I loved the "something's moving in the mirror, look behind you" moments. There's the annoying "let's creep up on you and grab your shoulder" lazy jumps but they don't detract much.
• Kicking off Act II, Kaylie lays out the rest of the film (to draw said spectre out and hopefully end it). I enjoyed the history/exposition of the being, her extra precautions and built-in fail-safes she put in place before starting. (Her boyfriend must ring her on the hour and call the police if she doesn't answer, separate power sources, multiple cameras)
• In something that can only happen in TV/film, when confronted with supernatural vs a more grounded explanation (simply a bad marriage gone wrong) it's gratifying to see proof that yes, it is the supernatural, in your face!

Nit picks:
Overall: I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the film and how effective it was cutting between two concurrent storylines about the same people. Good stuff. Recommended.