388 ARLETTA AVENUE (2011)

Genre: Thriller
Director: Randall Cole
Cast: Nick Stahl, Mia Kirshner, Devon Sawa, Aaron Abrams, Charlotte Sullivan, Krista Bridges
RunTime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:

Opening Day: 20 December 2012

Synopsis:  A mid-sized house in a nice middle-class neighbourhood in Toronto. James and Amy Deakin is a typical married couple, but tensions are present. Whoever is watching them seems to have decided to manipulate those tensions. Odd things start happening. Individually, each mishap is manageable, but together, they create mistrust that turns to tension, then tension turns to anger and then Amy disappears. James is concerned, but assumes this is her idea of payback. Strange occurrences continue. Suspecting people from his past, he fixates on an old acquaintance named Bill. An awkward confrontation does nothing to reassure him, and James now believes Amy is in grave danger. The unexplained incidences become bolder, even macabre. Dread mixes with bewilderment, as James make his move to save Amy, asking the only question he can - "Why"? .

Movie Review:

Be warned – this is a found footage movie, and depending on your affinity for the genre, you’ll either love it or hate it. The format is applied here to the home invasion picture, where a young married couple is terrorised in their suburban home by an unknown intruder. The twist? All that footage you see comes in fact from the point of view of the stalker, or for that matter, the numerous cameras he has secretly installed within the four walls of James and Amy’s house.

It is a nifty conceit we have to say, but not quite enough to turn this into a surprise hit like the first three ‘Paranormal Activity’ films. The reason for that is simple – too little happens in writer/director Randall Cole’s movie, so much so that we end up wondering what all the hysteria is for. Furthermore, all that slow-burn buildup ends in an unsatisfying conclusion which immediately recalls that in another low-budget B-movie ‘ATM’ – and if you’ve seen that and hated how it finishes, you’ll be left feeling the same way here.

Cole adopts a deliberately low-key approach to the material right from the beginning, as said stalker sets up an unknown CD to play on their car stereo, programmes a slideshow of their photographs to play on their computer and then finally removes Amy from the residence leaving a goodbye note. The intention of course is to keep Jason as well as his audience guessing who is responsible for what could either be simply a series of mischievous pranks or more insidious tactics at unnerving our protagonist.

As Jason goes about trying to uncover the truth behind Amy’s disappearance, we learn to grow less sympathetic about his plight. Not only do we find that he has been cheating on her, but also that he was a terrible bully in his younger days to a classmate named Bill (Devon Sawa), whom Jason seeks out thinking that the latter might be his tormentor. Had it been so straightforward, we might be more satisfied; instead, the villain remains faceless, nameless and without motivation - hence the frustrating conclusion.

All the while, Cole tries to build a growing sense of dread, alternating the footage of Jason with that of the intruder dressed in all-black attire standing right in Jason’s house. Nonetheless, given the understated way it unfolds, you never really get to feel Jason’s desperation nor his helplessness; rather, you’re more likely to check your watches thinking when all that empty shots of no one in particular in the house are going to end.

That said, purists of the found footage format will probably praise it for how it manages to be authentic. Eschewing the more dramatic tendencies of other similar movies like ‘Funny Games’ and ‘Straw Dogs’, Cole sticks to a grounded, down-to-earth telling that makes it all the more believable. Yet it is also precisely because of this restraint that those looking for a gripping thriller will find themselves underwhelmed, and then upset over an open and cryptic ending.

Like we said earlier, depending on your love for found footage movies, you should either go see this or just avoid it altogether. Within the context of the genre, Cole fashions an effective paranoia chiller that sacrifices artificial thrills for realism. Yet it is also precisely this reason that the movie will prove dull and tedious for those not so smitten with found footages, and we suspect lead to its slow but sure death that the depreciating box-office results of ‘Paranormal Activity 4’ have clearly hinted at. 

Movie Rating:

(A deliberately low-key and open-ended home invasion movie that will only please fans of the found footage genre)

Review by Gabriel Chong