Review of Mockingbird (2014) by Amy Q — 20 Aug 2015

Honestly, your enjoyment of this film will really rely on whether or not you thought the twist was any good or not. I suppose, from a visual and shock value standpoint, it's actually a fairly strong and 'surprising' twist.

But, of course, when it's scrutinized and analyzed, it's not actually that good at all. It's exactly the type of twist that I always complain about hating and that is the twist that's simply done for the sake of having a twist.

It's not that it doesn't sense, even though it actually doesn't make sense, it's simply the fact that the film would like for you to just take the twist as is, without actually questioning anything.

And I really hate that shit, because, it assumes, that the audience watching are idiots and that we'll just sit on our hands and take what we're fed. It's not that it's a deus ex machina, it's not in the traditional sense, but it came out of nowhere and it wasn't related to absolutely anything in the actual film.

Not in the least. Again, it was just done because it seemed liked a good idea at the time. If it actually felt relevant to the story that the film was telling, then I obviously wouldn't have minded.

But the fact that it just comes out of nowhere and doesn't really fit with anything else the film did just left a lot to be desired. And it's not like you need to make your villain(s)' motivations clear, the previous film I reviewed, Ritual, was fairly similar in that you're not given a real reason for what is going on, but this lack of explanation adds an even more disturbing layer to a really good movie.

It doesn't work that way in this film. It just brings the movie down. Not that it was much good to begin with prior to that, but it had some interesting moments and scenes and it's not like I was fully invested in the film, but I was intrigued by it enough to want to see where it was going.

It's not that it's a bad film, but it does rely on a lot of tired horror cliches, in particular found footage cliches. It doesn't scratch the bottom of the barrel as far as found footage horror film goes, but it's only several notches above that.

It's not like I would really recommend this, but it's not like it's awful enough to tell you to stay as far away of it as you can. I'm sure it's got something that some horror fans will like.

It just didn't do much for me past a couple of scenes and the ending itself really sucked. So it is what it is. Not the worst, not the best.