I Am Zozo (2012)

Nice effects though.

good back-story, and good acting

From my favorite movies..

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

There are several really good moments in this film, and an overall unnerving tone that, if you are in the right mind-set, might work well for you. In particular, I found the opening scene to be quite effective, and the Ouija board scenes to be excellent.That said, there are some things that really drag the film down. The plotting is inconsistent; I think the film could have been dramatically improved by putting the character development more into the first half rather than the second half (or, perhaps, cutting some of it entirely), and the consistently shaky camera was distracting to the point of taking me out of the scenes. Often, filmmakers use hand-held cameras to make it feel more authentic, but in this case, it felt like it broke the "fourth wall". Perhaps a steadicam was out of their budget, but I doubt a tripod would have been, and would have helped tremendously. The use of Super8 film was pretty interesting, and had me trying to figure out why the movie looked different (until I looked it up online.)Also, there are some strange plot holes, and odd choices by some of the main characters. If you were attacked by an evil spirit, would you have fun the next day?!?! Not leave?!?! It's not like they were trapped there. Additionally, right after the extended and creepy Ouija scene, there is a long stretch of movie where very little happens outside of getting to know the characters better. Which might be okay if the payoff at the end were particularly effective, but it just didn't work for me. I liked - parts - of the end, in particular the way the victim was discovered by the protagonist, but it just didn't pay off the long wait to get to.I think a different edit would help things out a lot, although I'm not sure what could be done about the jittery camera-work. I did find the actors to be believable and interesting, and I liked the music, too. Nice start by the filmmakers and crew, but mixed. Still, I'm writing this review the next day, and have been thinking about the film a lot, so that has to count for something.

If you believe that such a movie can in any way be spoiled (it can't) then know that this review contains spoilers at the bottom.I wish I could give this a 0 rather than the minimum 1 star.I don't even understand why it's classified as "Horror, Thriller", as it contains no horror and no thrills. Also no suspense, no scares, no plot twists, and no special effects of any kind... The *presumed* "evil" (what?) in the movie is simply suggested, and absolutely nothing of any kind happens.If you watched this without knowing the title, genre or synopsis, you would come to the conclusion that you're watching a group of people filming themselves while on a weekend trip (to a remote cabin, of course) where they get so drunk they start scaring themselves after using a Ouija board.In case you're still wondering: definitely. no. horror OR thriller.The only blood you see here comes when one of the characters cleans a fish before cooking it; there's no violence of any form, nobody dies (on camera) nobody gets as much as injured.The acting is as bad as it comes, the directing is awful, and you just won't believe how bloody silly the ending is.It's also filmed in the style of - and with the unsteady hand of - a "found tape" movie, however the actors never interact with whoever is holding the camera or acknowledge their presence, which makes the experience just weird and unlikely from the get go.Don't bother watching it, you'd regret it ==== "spoilers" after this===Reason breaks down at the end, when one of the protagonists, revealed to be in an asylum (and playing the cello) says:"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BOARD? NO-ONE CAN FIND IT"to which another character (glimpsed briefly at the beginning of the movie but never introduced, for the love of zozo) replies:"I'm here, I'M GOING TO TAKE THE BOARD WITH ME"... so, yeah, not all that difficult to find was it?1st, psychiatric institutions will absolutely not allow you to keep an object (or be in a situation, if at all avoidable) that causes you anxiety or fear, so the board would be an absolute no-no.2nd, I've yet to see a psych hospital that allows you to play a musical instrument (she's not even supervised by staff), but the setting is American, so they might, in Europe forget it.

The only reason I am writing this is that being as there was no electricity how did the girl have a hot shower? Perhaps solar panel which wouldn't generate much in late autumn. Perhaps I'm wrong though. I think the film is better suited to a teenager. There were time in the past when an ex girlfriend of mine played about with a board. I wasn't impressed especially when she it told her that we would part in the end. That bit was true. Strange thing about that is that we both live in the same area, not a massive population and in 50 years I've not bumped into her. Perhaps the film is really a warning to the curious. Someone else said that - M R James.

A group of friends go out to a holiday home on an island on Halloween. The acting is fine and despite the well used setup it's actually pretty believable. The low key story about them playing around with an ouija board is quite good up to a point. The problem is that towards the end they seem to lose interest in telling a story and not a whole heap happens.Talking slowly and drawling your words isn't scary either, it's just kind of annoying. As is the awful camera-work which bobs around constantly. It's also got the worst music imaginable, especially the last song. It made me laugh out loud it was that bad.It's a shame there isn't more of a story here because I liked it until they lost interest in trying to scare me. Too much home movie and not enough horror for my tastes. Courtney Foxworthy (the witchy one) is definitely an asset to the movie though and helped me make it to the credits and that awful nasal song!