Horror Movie Review: Evidence (2012)

A film of two halves, this found footage horror has a jarring shift in tone that some may like but many will hate. Evidence is a movie that wastes much of its potential while also sticking rigidly to what you’d expect from a found footage horror.

It sees a group of friends heading out into the woods to camp. Of course one of them brings a handheld camera to document the trip. Or more specifically, document one of the group’s experience camping for the first time.

Once in the woods, they do what all groups do in the woods. Drink around a campfire, tease each other and generally mess about. That night they begin to hear strange noises out in the woods and have a run-in with a mysterious local. The next day they see some sort of creature while out and about and that night the noises get worse.

Time to go home. Thank the gods for characters making sense. However, before they can leave one the group goes missing.

There’s something in the woods and it is not friendly.

The first half of Evidence is decent. Competently filmed for a found footage horror and the cast have chemistry, enough to make their inane banter palatable. While the whole ‘noises in the woods’ isn’t scary, especially considering how often we’ve seen it before, it does have a certain creep factor.

Unfortunately all of that goes to hell for a insanely frantic and messy second half where you’ll spend most of the remaining run-time wondering what the hell is going on. Everything we’ve spent years and countless reviews moaning about is here and it is painful.

Evidence gets so heavy handed with the found footage style that it is near painful to watch. Forget trying to follow the plot in the latter half, just focus on not throwing up through the sheer chaos that is unfolding on screen. It’s near enough unwatchable even if it is ‘realistic’.

A trip through a government facility turns the film on its head and it’s a real shame the mystery started in the first half is ignored.

All in favour of frantic and constant running. Sure, it conveys the sheer terror of the survivors being chased by monsters but that is it. There is no time to take anything in, no time to stop and understand just what is happening. Even when the ‘source’ is revealed very little information is given resulting a strong feeling of dissatisfaction.