Fridae

Paranormal phenomena like poltergeists and possessions have fuelled the faux found footage horror film revival of the past decade. I've never been impressed by this newfangled horror sub-genre because there are times (say the entire Paranormal Activity series) where it seems that these films are a collection of spooky special effects in search of a story. No, I'm not going to be scared stiff just because a door is shown to open or close mysteriously or sleeping children start floating off their beds in the middle of the night. Horror, as many modern Hollywood directors have forgotten, is a response to a sense that not all is right in the world, that contrary to your expectations and moral code, everything is wrong in the world.

As it turns out, the more successful horror films of this decade have centred around horror as an externalisation of family drama and suburban angst (Insidious, Sinister) as opposed to horror as an externalisation of prepubescent sexual anxiety (Carrie, The Lost Boys, Haus).

What makes Apartment 143 a great modern horror film is how it uses the faux found footage techniques and collection of spooky special effects of modern horror film to explore the old school notion of horror and hauntings as an externalisation of prepubescent sexual anxiety and the family psychodrama. But what makes Apartment 143 subtly brilliant is how as a 'problem story', it turns the weakness of the modern faux footage sub-genre into an actual problem to be solved.

To wit, the film is a supernatural procedural where a team of paranormal investigators headed by a grizzled professor and his team are invited to stay at a haunted apartment by its family and wire up every room with cameras in order to find out who or what is haunting them and why. As far as procedurals go, the film's Spanish creators take the interesting step of anchoring its paranormal sleuthings within the realm of plausible science, logical deductive, and almost forensic investigative methodology.

As far as scares go, you'll be treated to what may feel like a collection of scenes from other horror films like The Exorcist and Poltergeist but in its defense, this film does take you to a conclusion never thought before by most horror films.