Devil's Backbone, Texas (2015)

People are voting emotionally.

Let's be realistic.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Full disclosure, I am a sucker for the Found Footage/Mockumentary genre that has become increasingly popular with lower budget film makers. Either you love the genre or you hate it...and that should be a big factor in your decision to watch.Devil's Backbone, Texas is almost like two films in one. It begins with a narrative of a man returning to his father's home in Texas. This is our semi-fictive story. However, it completes this documentary feeling with experts talking about the history of the Devil's Backbone as well as color interviews on the filmmaker's father. This first half set's up the events of the second half, the true mockumentary/found footage. As the film-maker and his crew of friends arrive at his family's ranch, they begin to have some strange encounters. At this point, once's suspension of disbelief begins to kick in and we realize this most likely a film, not true to life. Leading up to the second half, we experience a better interesting documentary...one I actually enjoyed. The added benefit of the "real encounters" made the story better, in my mind. I won't belabor the plot, but it has some spooky events and the ending is not totally satisfying (what found footage ending is?)...but it has some originality and some strong moments. For me, I really enjoyed the blending of the informative with the narrative to create a stronger sense of realism. By presenting the audience with a build up of fact- based story telling and then showing them the found footage style horror, it creates a movie that is harder to dismiss as fake. This is similar to Paranormal Activity's lack of credits...it unbalance's the viewer. I won't say this is an original idea, I have seen it done before. However, I am always pulled in by it and it is a very strong story telling technique.Anyways, I think the movie is a good addition to the found footage genre, it is well put together and, while not ground breaking, still an interesting movie.

UGH... Did I really just watch this? Stuck on the couch after surgery and wishing this was just a bad post op dream. Bad actors, especially the girls. The castrated metro males are weaker than kittens.A good story idea ruined by bad actors and cinematography. The style is over used and unoriginal. Im no production expert but Im a consumer and this is just plain dollar store quality.The author needs to get with a real professional production company and take this story where it needs to go. story line drifts and some scenes make no sense at all. For example, boar in the trap. So and then what? The location was good for the story, could of made better use of the landscape. everything was from one prospective only, the speechless camera operator.

This movie set out to do this that it couldn't achieve. I don't think it was the fault of James. Unfortunately, he took a bunch of really shallow wannabe starlets out on a spiritual journey to his father's ranch in Texas. The people he took with them were incapable of setting aside their needs to help a friend do the things he wanted to do. I would actually venture to say this movie is a perfect example of how children who have been neglected by a parent(s) reenact that neglect in adult relationships. The main character, James, brought childish friends to support him in ways they most definitely were unprepared- at least that is how it seemed, but then something changes and your back I the psychological thriller. So, for a 2 AM and "I can't sleep" movie it is not bad and I can't really agree with the waste of time review. Yet, do not expect much.

I'm may be a little biased with my review. So, real Texan here. It was an excellent surprise to see Jack Glover's appearance in the movie. I haven't been a fan of bouncing camera Blair Witch Project/Cloverfield style of filming taking over so many new horror movies! I'm glad I gave this one a chance. The manual camera style isn't over the top, and it actually works well with the plot. I think it's time to take a weekend trip to The Devil's Backbone. I know I'll never forget my times with Jack Glover as a child. The fact that he was portraying himself went a long ways with me. I've looked up some of the other stories/events the movie references, and it's obvious there was a lot of research that went into the story.