Camera Obscura (2017) Reviews

• Capturing Souls

  shawnblackman2017-07-23

  A man gets an old WWII era camera that he uses as therapy to get over his post traumatic disorders. He fires off ten rolls of film and discovers that in each roll of developed film there is a picture of someone dead. Every death depicted happens within a few days. He discovers one of the pictures is his fiancé. He tries to stop fate by substituting a life for hers but it only delays things a little bit. Before you know it he is a full fledged serial killer trying to preserve his future wife. The film is a slight variation of the Final Destination series meets Shudder which is basically messing with death. This one pulls off the tension pretty good with some violent deaths. Fast paced with a synthesizer type soundtrack. The problem with this one is that it peters out near the end, almost as if the writer got tired Overall not bad. 5 hacksawed heads out of 10.

• Mixed feelings

  airsnob2017-06-21

  So this was rated pretty high on Amazon and on IMDb. A 6.7 isn't too shabby . So I rented it. With my bank account down pretty low, $5.99 I want to be well spent, I am meticulous reviewer of movies , because there is nothing worse than spending money on a crap film . First of all, it isn't terrible. IMDb is really bipolar when it comes to ratings. People hand out horrible ratings for films when they don't like them, unfortunately they're just not realistic. I think anything between a 1-5 should be considered B movie , bad production values , horrible acting , the works. This movie is not that. It's not B movie quality. The acting is good. The script isn't bad, except I do have my complaints. The script was crazy confusing in spots. The entire serial killer thing - I mean I figured that the camera must have belonged to the guy ( Im not a total idiot) what I can't figure is when that was ever introduced in the movie. I thought that I must have missed the auction scene where they said the camera belonged to the serial killer and they were auctioning off his stuff . . Because out of nowhere comes in this connection to the serial killer and the camera. Yet then there was the camera being from before WW2, ( yet the camera can date pictures ) and that didn't seem to go anywhere either. There was just some inconsistencies in the script. For someone not that bright , this might've seemed like a confusing mess. ( don't ever watch movies with someone not that bright ) the other thing is , the whole PTSD thing with the main protagonist... the movie took forever to get started or for anything mildly interesting to happen. They used this time for character development except this was extremely obtuse and almost purposely hidden , like we don't really find out exactly what this guys problem is till he is talking with his buddy at the bar. Which was well into the movie , and then we are supposed to believe that a photographer has PTSD ( a severe case) like as bad or worse than a combat vet. The movie started off not seeming very realistic to begin with. The characters were hard to believe ( I've never met any guys who speak like these guys also) but if you stick with it, it gets more interesting ... This isn't a horror movie ... this is a good first independent movie I would say in the thriller genre. This movie shows potential , and talent . I would applaud this film if I knew it was a first project for writer / director . I think that this movie reminds me of some other firsts - like for example Absentia, This movie has better production values , but on the same page is that film with interesting script and good acting , just not that great of a film. But good for independent standards and budget limitations. I look forward to the future with this director and writer. It's not a bad movie and I think some people will enjoy it more and some less. I thought it ended much better than it started and the later connections were cool. Overall I give it a 6, although it could easily be a 7, I just didn't get that into it , it didn't pull me in ..

• An Unusual movie

  evemas-am2017-09-23

  The movie reminded me (as mentioned in the movie itself), of R L Stine's Goosebumps' Say Cheese and Die. It was more like a mash up of the Japanese movie Premonition (2004), The Dead Zone, and Dexter. Either way, I did not hate it. It was somewhat unique in its own way and entertaining. Also, what made the movie stand out was the unique soundtrack.

• Interesting plot - well done

  donb-519-3350752017-04-25

  I saw the world premiere at the 2017 Florida Film Festival and was very impressed with the idea of the film - its presentation - and impact. Jack Zeller, played very effectively by Christopher Denham, is a psychologically damaged photographer back from Afghanistan. He is evidently suffering from PTSA and is trying to get back to doing what he loves - professional photography. As an encouragement, his fiancé, Claire, buys him a vintage (WW II era) camera (naturally made in Germany.) One chilling aspect of the camera is that a camera repair store announces that "this camera is not capable of taking photos." Nevertheless, Jack gets a gig working for her real estate company and takes 10 rolls of film of various settings and properties with this "unworkable" camera. When the film is processed, there are surprising photos which I will not describe (you can imagine since this is a horror film.) How he reacts and tries to deal with these photos is the tension in the movie. The plot is different, well conceived and exciting. The music and sound effects add measurably to the feel of the film and effect of the events being portrayed. Overall it is an excellent effort from first time director Aaron B. Koontz. I look forward to future efforts by Mr. Koontz. If you get the chance to take in "Camera Obscura," please do - very worthwhile.

• Nice thriller

  kanabuma2018-01-04

  It's such a pity that a good thriller with an original plot gets poor rating of less than 5 stars. I don't know what's really wrong with people who have rated this movie poorly and what's their expectation about horror/thriller movies. The movie is so original and I have never seen a movie with a plot similar to this movie. It's a bizarre story, with elements of gore, thrill, mystery, etc. which are necessary for a good horror/thriller movie. Acting is pretty good. Movie is really fast moving, kept us guessing what would happen next. Movie is excellently made without a dull moment. If you keep on criticising good movies like this, you have to make your own movies, so that you will never criticise movies any longer. It's enough to give 10 stars to this movie just for the original, clever plot itself.