October Horror Challenge 2019 #81: "The Investigation: A Haunting in Sherwood"

I used to really love found footage style horror movies. For awhile there, I wateced every one I could find, and I liked pretty much every one I saw. Something about movies that looked like someone's actual home movies or surveillance,  but showed actual ghosts or demons or things that go bump in the night...they got under my skin and scared me because they seemed real. At some point though, I reached critical mass, and I think I watched one too many found footage movies, and I got sick of them. I try to only watch one or two from now on, so I don't get burnt out, and this one came highly recommended, so I decided to check it out.

This movie is about a private investigator named Gareth Williams who catches people in the act pretending to be injured. He films evidence that proves they're lying and gives it to whoever hired him to use against them in court. His new case is a little different though. There's a tenant at an apartment building whose landlord keeps getting noise complaints. The landlord hires Williams to prove that the tenant is making all the noise. William's hacks into the apartment's security system so he can do his surveillance from home. Spon he starts seeing very strange things that indicate a supernatural force might be at work.

In a movie like this, its success really lies on the shoulders of the actors. If you don't like Williams or the guy who plays the tenant, you won't like the movie, since it's pretty much all footage of them. Luckily, I did like both actors, so I cared what happened to them, and the movie worked for me on that level.

The creepy, ghostly voice that keeps calling and tormenting the tenant on the phone is actually really creepy. Those calls definitely worked. All the "ghostly activity" is mostly doors opening by themselves or strange banging noises, and it could be silly, but the actors definitely sell it and help make it scary. I had a real sense of dread waiting to see what would happen as the movie built to its climax. Ultimately, if you hate found footage style horror flicks, you probably won't like this movie, but it's definitely worth checking out for fans of the subgenre.