Fridae

What happens when you cross Jurassic Park with The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity? Behold the latest evolutionary mutation in horror film: the found footage faux-documentary The Dinosaur Project. The premise is straightforward: British explorers record their expedition to find an African Loch Ness Monster, meet dinosaurs instead, get eaten by dinosaurs on camera, and this is the film you're watching.

Being an evolutionary mutation, don't expect the rules of the genre to be re-written. Do expect near incoherent, abysmal camera work, near incoherent editing, and yes — even 'confessional' videolog sequences as though this is "Survivor: Dinosaur Jungle".

You know for a certainty they're doomed to failure. The lead explorer basically hunts dinosaurs in the jungles of Africa and his entire expedition crew is unarmed. Still, he has the sense to wear an Indie Jones fedora. They're a micro budget university expedition with apparently access to the most high-end, military-grade cameras and remote surveillance tools around — but really old school boom mikes for sound! But still no guns, just a vanity GPS Blackberry that they must have blown their department funding to slap their logo on. Their tracker and jungle guide is an intriguing native who knows more than she lets on, but is so transparent about it, she's not hiding anything from you, the audience from the moment she appears on screen. Scratch that. You know for a certain that this story is doomed to failure.

What I didn't expect but am pleased to find is a film that goes beyond not taking itself seriously. The story is so hackneyed, the characters so cardboard and unrealistic, the inconsistencies so illogical and innumerate that you suspect the film is actually parodying itself. It's as though the filmmakers expect you and your pals to play a drinking game while watching The Dinosaur Project or even ad lib your own funny stream of consciousness commentary in the fashion of Mystery Science Theatre 30,000.

And that, my friends, is fun movie to watch just in time for Halloween.