The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting in this movie is really good.

Docu films are passe and even if they aren't they should be exceptionally well made- which The Taking of Deborah Logan is not. At least Paranormal activity managed to be scary but this film proves that the home video/documentary horror should be buried six feet under. (Avoid it and rent The Exorcist instead).

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It has actually a good plot, convincing acting (especially Anne Ramsay and Jill Larson, who were AMAZING!) and it's frightening. Only negative thing I can say is that I didn't like the camera crew and their the whining, really annoying. But otherwise, very good job.

Wow I found this little gem by accident and was greatly rewarded. I've never been fond of found-footage but I make the exception with this one. Seriously, it creeped me out so bad I had to have a "chaser" movie afterward and still didn't sleep that night. I promise it's a movie you won't ever forget.

Alzheimer's is a terrifying and devastating disease that would put any horror movie to shame by itself, unless, of course, it also causes someone to be possessed by a demon. The Taking of Deborah Logan is a sort of cross between the mockumentary "lost in the woods" style of The Blair Witch Project and the haunted house security cameras of Paranormal Activity to make a frequently scary and engrossing little gem. The Taking of Deborah Logan follows, you guessed it, three filmmakers who are making a documentary, but this time it's about Alzheimer's. They got to the home of the proper and elderly Deborah Logan to film her life with the disease while her daughter, Sarah Logan, also gives commentary on how Deborah's condition has affected her. As weeks pass and Deborah's mental state deteriorates, the four believe that something else might have latched onto her dwindling mind. The film starts out giving some backstory to both Deborah and Sarah with small explanations of the disease along the way. It does make the dynamic between the two more compelling especially towards the end of the movie when Deborah is completely possessed. Although, this movie does fall victim to one little pet peeve of mine. Something that comes up in a couple of found footage movies that makes no logical sense to me is that, why would the footage be edited to include music or any extra effects that aren't on camera? In The Taking, they added little animations illustrating the disease or parts of a documentary they were watching. Why would they take the time to edit all of that in there when, by the time the movie is over, it's obviously not going to be a documentary anymore? There's also the fact that there are obvious sound effects whenever there's a jump scare. Speaking of jump scares, something I enjoyed immensely about The Taking were several scenes in which you'd expect an obvious jump scare and instead the scene just relied on its atmosphere. Those scenes are far scarier than any of the jump scenes, and although I like a good jump scare, they need to be earned. Jill Larson is incredible as Deborah Logan and is definitely one of the better "spooky old ladies" I've seen in a horror movie. The absorbing plot also distinguishes this from being just another possession flick. The Taking of Deborah Logan is a fun and creepy Netflix gem and a must-watch for found footage fans.