When you have to set up the drama of your “found footage” horror flick with what feels like a 15 minute exposition dump in voiceover, you are kicking things off on very shaky ground. It’s as if the filmmakers didn’t have faith in their ability to present information through the action of the film itself. Or, more concerning perhaps, they don’t trust their audience to accept a significant amount of ambiguity. In either case, the film was DOA for me because of this prologue spelling out everything that was going to happen. 

Our main character is sinking in the ratings? My goodness, I hope he won’t get desperate to make a splash and push the boundaries of good taste on his show! 

He lost his wife to cancer? Oh my stars, I hope her ghost doesn’t crossover when they bring on a demonic entity!

Not really sure why folks hyped this so much. Half the actors are on the level of a dinner theater stage production of Network, it’s not scary (see lack of ambiguity), and the attempts at satire are are as meaty as puréed chicken. 

But really, why again use the conceit of found footage when you are going to consistently reach outside it’s formal limitations? All the “backstage” stuff makes absolutely zero sense. The intrusive quality of a camera crew prowling around the guests, host, and producer behind the scenes seems more a product of the hysterical “reality tv” era than the golden age of late night talk shows. I suppose I would forgive their presence if the execution of these moments weren’t so clunky. Again, I found myself asking the question I often do with these formal exercises: if you are going to push so clumsily against the constraints of the format, why not just drop the found footage thing and just make…like…a movie movie? 

This could have been a very neat piece of media if they had a bit more creativity and the discipline to play inside the lines. At 55 minutes, this would have hummed along.