Back From Hell (2011)
Directed by: Leonardo Araneo
Written by: Leonardo Araneo
Starring: Aran Bertetto, Giovanni Guideli, Jennifer Muschiati
Back From Hell (2011)
(15) Running time: 97 minutes
Director: Leonardo Araneo
Writer: Leonardo Araneo
Starring: Aran Bertetto, Giovanni Guideli, Jennifer Mischiati
Reviewed by: Matt Wavish, official HCF critic
While I am still championing the found footage genre of horror, many are growing less and less patient with it, and to be honest, it is films like Back From Hell which are the cause. Found footage is supposed to be exciting, fresh and cutting edge with big ideas to back it up. It requires a certain level of believability and intelligence to do it right, and if you get it wrong it can fail in a big way. Back From Hell is one of those films that sadly makes me question my love of this genre, and I hate it when films make me question something I love.
In the film a group of friends hire a country manor for a few days away from the frantic life of the city, and once they arrive at the strangely run down manor, they make friends with a local Priest. Filming their holiday, we get to know the friends and they barely register as likeable or remotely interesting. As they settle down to a night of Ouija board fun, you find yourself excited to see bad things happen. Low and behold, the Ouija board scares one of them (what were they expecting!) and it would seem they may have released a nasty spirit as the group begin to ‘freak out’.
Cue lots and lots of screaming and calling each other’s names as if their life depended on it, cue tons of frantic camerawork and those really REALLY annoying moments where a camera cuts out or the picture becomes distorted. Somehow amongst all the madness, someone manages to keep on filming, and the camera more than often conveniently ends up in just the right place at the right time, or cleverly cuts away to avoid showing the lack of budget for a special effect. I say clever, it is downright lazy and there is very little bravery here to actually try to get it right. There are clichés galore here, and Back From Hell simply pulls all the best bits from the genre and tries to make them work in a film lacking originality, tension and, most importantly, scares.
One of the group becomes possessed, and the film really takes a turn for the truly awful at this point. Here is where I believed that the makers and cast simply got drunk one night, grabbed some cameras and decided to attempt to make a horror film. The possessed man screams and bellows in a way that is so embarrassing you will actually feel sorry for the ‘actor’ playing the part. In fact, you will hope that indeed he was drunk, because looking back at this I can’t imagine he will be proud of it. Oh, and when he goes all The Last Exorcism on us and makes out his body is bending in strange ways, it will take all your strength not to turn off, or quite possibly piss yourself laughing. Moments follow where characters happen to ‘turn up’ from the shadows in a way to try and conjure a jump moment, but it doesn’t. The timing here is too perfect, and takes away all the tension, and any atmosphere of dread is just watered down by bad acting and awful awful directing.
A real shame because the setting is excellent, and should have made for a very decent horror film. Instead the setting is wasted by a lack of any real skill. Religious mumbo jumbo takes over the second half, but even that can’t lift this film, and the local Priest just irritates as he is clearly reciting his lines he just learnt this morning. A baffling ending only adds to the pain of sitting through this endurance test. Painful, poor movie making and sadly an embarrassment to the found footage genre. The more films like this that continue to be released, the less credibility the genre has. Stop killing it, for God sake!
Rating: 
Be the first to comment