Plot: What’s it about?
We’ve all heard stories of haunted houses and what goes on within their walls, but now a four person team plans to document a night inside a real haunted house. The team consists of a smart, but nerdy fellow, a wisecracking guy with minimal smarts, a beautiful young woman who loves the paranormal, and another young lady who thinks she has a little psychic twinkle inside her. All of them know how eerie and possibly even dangerous this night could become, but all of them also want to discover the truth and will face whatever they must to do so, including ghosts. The young folks think they have all the answers they’ll need, but as the night passes, they will learn that no one is ever really prepared for the supernatural. Is this house haunted, like the kids seem to think, or will their cameras just prove that the legends were false?
Of course this film will be compared to The Last Broadcast and The Blair Witch Project, but don’t go into this one with the same type of expectations. I love the idea of a documentary (if even a fake one) that revolves around a haunted house, so I ended up liking this one more than I figured I would. The film uses the same documentary nature as the above mentioned efforts and in the end, sports a lot of the same unintentional humor of those movies. The participants (or actors) in this experiment are very amusing and while their work here is usually bad, they do seem pretty scared at times and that adds to the atmosphere. It seems like all the cliches of haunted house movies are used here and if you like the genre, you’ll have fun as they all unfold. Some work better than others and some go down in flames, but I still like seeing all the usual elements present. As far as scares, I wasn’t spooked in the least here, but then again, I wonder how people were scared of The Blair Witch Project, so what do I know, right? I am sure some people will attack this film as a simple rip-off, but then again, so was The Blair Witch Project. If you’re a fan of haunted house flicks and don’t mind some bad spots, then by all means, give this disc a rental and see what you think.
As this is supposed to be a documentary, the actors don’t act in the traditional sense, instead they try to act as if they aren’t acting. So instead of strong dialogue and such, these folks attempt to seem real and as such, who knows how to judge their work. I don’t think you can comment too badly on them, as I am sure these people have limited experience prior to this project. Of course, some spots seem to come off better than others, but in the end, the kids do a decent job and are by no means worse than The Blair Witch Project workers. I suppose the girls in this movie do the entire movie some harm, as they’re just too annoying and stereotypical in the end. But when I say the acting here is good, that means it is good enough in this case, not on the movie scale as a whole, not by any means. I will say that some of the actors really seemed scared at times, which of course adds a lot to the film’s atmosphere and effectiveness. In the end, this isn’t all that impressive in terms of performances, but the actors are good enough to pass for this type of picture.
Video: How does it look?
The St. Francisville Experiment is presented in a full frame transfer, which is the intended aspect ratio of the film. This seems to have been shot on digital video and as such, shows the signs of that format, both good and bad. The image is very sharp and detailed, but has the digital appearance, which means a lot of edge enhancement and a home movie look. The colors and contrast are dead on though, as far as digital video goes, this is a fine presentation. I do wish the transfer was tweaked to eliminate some of the edge enhancement, but I am not too let down here.
Audio: How does it sound?
Not much to discuss here, the audio is crisp and well balanced, but never shows much range. But since this is supposed to be a documentary, you don’t need the surround use, as it would seem out of place and taint the realistic tone. Not that you’ll think this is real at any time, but still, little touches can add to the atmosphere. The sound effects come through well in this mix, while the dialogue is loud and clear as well. In other words, this mix won’t dazzle you by any means, but it handles the material well enough. The disc also includes subtitles in English, Spanish, and French, in case you’ll need them.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes interviews with the four leads, the film’s trailer, and information on how to conduct your own experiment…MUHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry…but you know, the whole haunted house got to me for a couple seconds…
