by Here I am, again, to review yet another found footage horror film. If you’ve kept up with my reviews I’m sure by now you’re tired of hearing about them, but I’m still drawn to the genre. Several filmmakers have introduced some new concepts and great ideas on the micro budgets this method of filmmaking allows for, and so I always go in with an open mind. The latest found footage film under my belt, the House on Mansfield Street, is one of the most boring and contrived of the bunch.
Nick Greene is the star here. He’s a young man who is making the move from London to a smaller town to start work at the local university. He also happens to be an aspiring filmmaker and decides to chronicle his move on video. Things start off normal enough with Nick unpacking and trying to get used to how quiet things are in the countryside. He soon meets his neighbor Emma who seems charming enough and even works at the same university at which the main character has just been employed. She leaves him a good luck charm from which to hang from his window and makes arrangements to meet up for drinks later.
A few days weird occurrences start happening around the cottage. Nick begins hearing noises and discovers furniture knocked over, and doors seem to open on their own. Convinced that someone is breaking in, rather than accepting that paranormal events are occurring, he installs a few motion activated security cameras around the small cottage. The unseen forces kick things up a notch as Nick starts having a series of nightmares, and even catches on camera an apparition opening doors and approaching his sleeping body. He’s rather confused about this, and becomes moreso when he realizes he’s being watched and even sees a shadowy figure behind his curtains. Nick obviously isn’t safe in this cottage, but will he make the right choice and run before it’s too late? Obviously, because this is a found footage film, we already know the answer to that question.
Let’s start with the good stuff. First of all, the actor gives a pretty believable performance. He’s plenty likable, and most of his dialogue doesn’t seem forced. He’s pretty good at conversing with himself which is a major plus. Second of all, some of the scares are actually pretty effective. While there’s plenty of bumps in the night and ‘what could that be?’ random sounds around the home (it kind of comes with the territory) there are a few especially creepy moments. I especially liked when Nick discovers a shadow being cast behind his blinds, or when he finds footage someone else took of him trying to get into his cottage placed strategically on his computer. A few of the intended scares are pretty unique for the genre and help House on Mansfield Street carve out its own space in the sea of found footage horror films.
Now we move on to the bad. Some of the main character’s actions definitely left me scratching my head. For starters they kind of just threw in his background with movie making in order to justify why he would be filming in the first place, but it just doesn’t jive. You record everything you do so that you don’t get rusty in movie making? I don’t buy it, and neither will any other rational person. Additionally, he should have left his cottage long before he did. He knows something is obviously wrong, and realizes he should leave, but then just seems to kind of change the subject internally and forget. I don’t know, but it didn’t really make sense to me. It seems that the filmmakers couldn’t figure out a good method by which to keep the story going so they just told him to complain a lot and act exhausted. Also, they ran out of interesting things for the protagonist to do about halfway through the movie so there’s a lot of him talking about the same old things, and just sitting around. The House on Mansfield Street is pretty repetitive which definitely dampens its watchability.
The House on Mansfield Street is a micro budget, unoriginal, and repetitive found footage horror film. There are a few things I liked about it, but by and large it’s pretty forgettable to be honest. It lacks a certain ‘oomph’ and with so many better options out there it’s hard to recommend this one. It just needed more substance if you ask me. If you’re in a pinch and want something that’s at least watchable and somewhat scary then it may be worth it, but for the most part I recommend giving this one a pass.
Pros
- Mildly enjoyable story
Cons
- Unoriginal
- Repetitive
- Weird ending
