I remember watching Josh Trank’s Chronicle a couple of years back and loving every second of it, immediately. Combining found footage with horror, sci-fi, and super hero lore was the greatest thing to me. Fast forward two years and now I have another favorite film that manages to combine all of those things successfully once again, while bringing something new to the table, as well. That film is Derek Lee and Clif Prowse’s Afflicted.
Clif and Derek have been planning a year-long trip around the world for a long time now. Even with Derek’s very serious medical condition, arteriovenous malformation or AVM, the duo are determined to get through the entire trip with no problems. By day eight, in Paris, things already start to go sour, when Derek is attacked by a beautiful girl he picked up at a club. In the days following, Derek begins exhibiting signs that something is now severely wrong…
I know I’ve said it before and I’ll most likely say it again down the road, but this is one of the most original vampire films I’ve seen in a good while. The approach of treating vampirism as a disease is a refreshing take on the subject and an awesome way to try to make this feel like it could be happening to you or one of your friends in real life. The found footage technique certainly plays a helping hand in that, as well. To see Derek continually get worse, as the days go by and as the friends try to figure out how to solve the problem, is one of the craziest things I’ve seen in recent years. There are some real “oh sh*t” moments here, folks.
The acting throughout Afflicted is amazing. Clif and Derek, along with the supporting cast, clearly know what they are doing. On top of that, the effects are awesome, the make-up looks incredible, and the overall production quality of this film ranks up there with some of Hollywood’s major blockbuster films.
We’ve seen first-person camera work in found footage films before, but this stuff is impressive. To see Derek flying through the air, jumping from building to building is truly a new experience in a horror film. If you can imagine the V/H/S/ segment, Amateur Night, mixed with V/H/S/2’s A Ride in the Park, and the aforementioned Chronicle, you might be able to imagine what Afflicted is like.
I highly recommend this film. You can pick up a copy on Blu-ray or DVD through Sony Pictures on Tuesday, July 1.
I give this film 4.5 cups of cow blood out of 5.
