I believe it is a pretty safe bet that found footage films aren’t going to stop being produced any time soon. This may not necessarily be a negative thing, however. Although it has been done to death, especially in the last few years, filmmakers are still finding ways to utilize the technique to their advantage and present original and thoughtful ideas to horror fans everywhere. Adam Robitel has done just that with his newest project, The Taking of Deborah Logan.
A trio of students set out to make a documentary on the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. Sarah Logan has agreed to let them film her mother, Deborah, in hopes that the money being provided for filming will help with the accumulating medical bills. As the team gather more footage and as the disease grows stronger inside of Deborah Logan, things begin to happen that no doctor can explain, and it is clear that something else is at work here…
You guys all know by now that I am actually a pretty big supporter of found footage films and have reviewed quite a few pertaining to the supernatural on the site before. Even with that being the case, I always go into these movies wondering to myself what could this film offer that hasn’t been already seen before. I can’t express how happy I am when I am proven wrong and am presented something that I haven’t witnessed in the past.
Films about possession are getting more clever with every release, it seems. Writers and directors will always offer the alternative to demonic possession by including some form of medical professional in the film who are skeptics or who are “100% certain” that there is a medical diagnosis that can explain all of the strange occurrences. Enter the priest or some other form of religious authority, right? Well, in the case of Robitel’s The Taking of Deborah Logan, this would be wrong! Robitel has taken the supernatural film tropes and thrown [some of] them out the window! There is a priest in this film, but he isn’t interested in helping the Logan family, whatsoever. In fact, Robitel’s version of a priest doesn’t even believe in exorcism. This leaves Sarah Logan and the film team very little options, allowing for other mythologies to enter into an otherwise Catholic-dominated sub-genre of horror. This fact alone takes this flick a step above its predecessors in originality and creativeness.
You can’t just slap some makeup on an actor and expect a creepy performance to translate on-screen. The performers themselves must be able to portray a state of wretchedness and torment. Many actors over the years have done wonderfully at achieving this, but none quite as good as Jill Larson, who plays the titular Deborah Logan. Larson was able to go from the sweet elderly lady who is suffering from a debilitating disease to the frightening and almost sickening possessed being that causes harm to herself and others around her in a matter of seconds, as you watch her throughout this production. She brought a level of authenticity to this film that hasn’t been matched in a film of this nature in a long time, ensuring that if you watch this film alone and in the dark, you are sure to be freaked out.
The Taking of Deborah Logan is a breath of fresh air in a rather saturated sub-genre. Adam Robitel has managed to produce a film that every horror fan should see and share with their fellow genre-lovers. Be sure to pick up your DVD copy on Tuesday, November 4 from Millenium Entertainment and experience it for yourself.
I give this film 4 snakes out of 5.