Recently I joined a found footage movie group on Facebook. I usually stay away from FB groups since they always seemed to be just a place where people attack each other on their opinions and talk crap, but I was bored and thought I would try it out. After a week or two, I found out that a lot of first time movie makers will post their teaser trailers and shorts in this group. Shawn Robinson asked if he could get some reviews and feedback on his first feature movie entitled Life With Belle.
I’m always up for something new and I’ve seen more than my share of found footage horror movies over the years so I volunteered. Immediately, it starts with cop cam footage of July 18th and the police responding to the Starnes family residence, young Annabelle is missing and the rest of the family is deceased. No answers are found, so police decide to release the footage leading up to the night of Belle’s disappearance to see if anyone has any additional information.
Now, up ’til this point in the movie I was thinking “here we go again,” having seen the cop cam footage shtick so many times. This is where Life With Belle really hooked me in. Generally speaking, children in horror movies just don’t work for me. The two leads, Annabelle and her younger brother, Link, are amazing (both first time actors). They are totally believable and they make you care even more about what is going to happen to them as the movie progresses.
Life of Belle picks up a week before the cop cam footage. We find out that the father is leaving on a business trip and he installs a surveillance system in the house so he can monitor his family while he’s gone. In addition, he gifts a camera to Belle for her birthday so she can practice for her future YouTube channel. The first half of the movie is basically the kids doing what kids do with some minor clues indicating the darkness that is on the horizon for this family. Even during these seemingly innocuous events, the director makes the viewer feel uneasy and, at some points, downright freaked out.
Throughout the 73 minute runtime, Life of Belle messes with your head big time! It has you looking in the corners of the frame looking for someone or maybe something moving around. The last half hour of this movie is where the pedal hits the metal; It cranks up the creepiness to 11 (spinal tap reference).
Life of Belle is all around a must-see. I can’t believe this was this director’s first movie. There is excellent camera work, the cast is awesome, and the story is simple… simply creepy as hell. If I had a gun to my head and was forced to give a criticism, I guess I would have liked to have more backstory about the mom. Other than that, I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!
Currently, Shawn Robinson is working on getting a distribution deal (hopefully Tubi or POV Horror will pick it up). If you are a fan of found footage, you should watch this when it comes out.
GRADE: A-
I just wanna know if it’s a true story? I just watched it it’s a very cool and really scary thank i
I just saw this footage and it was really on your seat of what’s mom gonna do next.i must of missed the dad coming home I just saw him laying there.everyone in the movie were great actors so believable thanks yall
I usually don’t like found footage films. Blair Witch,Cloverdale, and a couple ioff the paranormals were ok.
This film reminded me of another FF film where the nice grandma turns iut to be in a sacrificial coven.
(Spoilers)
Basically a psychotic mother hears voices, and eventual kills her family except her daughter Belle.
The cameras were working fine until the end when the police knock at the door.
The camera then goes haywire where ee see Belle standing in the middle of the room being approached by a figure then fsde to black.
I first thought the figure was a cop, but then hiw did Belle go missing?
I then realized that maybe the figure was the “entity” that the mother was talking to and it took Belle.
This makes the most sense.
However, the mother (the whole family was played by a real family) was not very good. She really over acted snd to me was not believable.
The kids were ok being amateurs, and the dsd was in the film maybe 5 minutes.
All in all not really scary because we knew much of the end in the beginning.
If I were rating it, I could only vive it a C minus or a C if generous.
I have to say it scared me but so did Blair Witch trials.I watched then both late at night home alone and it keot me watching. It is all home footage and the writer did it justice.
Excuse me but this it’s fake, The mom caught my attention right away, ppl who don’t take there meds act the same way, however, I’m Native American and very much believe in bad spirit’s. What get my goat is ppl are saying oh great movie. really the REAL is this family when through this!! OMG, what’s next REAL KILLING’S live on T.V. WAS there bad spirit’s in the REAL VIDEO??
First of all, I have a love hate relationship with found footage horror. Some are real winners, then, some are so bad, or so redundant, you almost want to cry. This surpasses any expectation I had. I watched it one time, and loved it. Loved isn’t a good enough word, really. Now, about a year later, I was like, it’s time again. And the second time, is even better. There are things I never even noticed the first time. I was so engrossed with little Belle and Linc, any “extras” hiding in the shadows totally slipped right by me. At first viewing, I thought it was a mothers descent into madness, and it is, but also, more than that. She is & isn’t crazy. She is legit trying to save her kids. I am a mother to 4 boys, and the bond between Belle and Linc just pulls at your heart like nothing else. The shot of their backs, sitting on the porch when their lives are falling apart, I cry every time. I cannot believe this is their first time acting! I also cannot believe this is the directors first movie! It is phenomenal. Even though I know how horror movies go, I had high hopes Belle just got away. (the first time I saw it) The second, I was like, HOW DID I MISS THIS? And you realize, her mom may have had the only answer, after all. If I had any criticism at all, I would like to know, how this came to be? Is this a mom problem? Or a house problem? I’d love to pick the brain of the writer. Maybe he could do a prequel someday. I have things I must know!
Very well acted by all especially the two young children very well acting