The
Atticus Institute
(2015/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C Film: C+
Possess
The Possession
From
the producers of The
Conjuring
and Annabelle
comes Director Chris Sparling's (the writer of the Ryan Reynolds'
film Buried)
The
Atticus Institute
which tells a fiction story by way of mockumentary style with
re-enactments, realistic looking photographs, and interviews with
person's involved. The production value and costuming works very
well - considering much of the eerie moments in the film show us
strange flashbacks in the 1970s monitoring a patient with telekinetic
abilities with researchers (think De Palma's The
Fury,
reviewed elsewhere on this site). The film reminds me a lot of The
Fourth Kind
in terms of selling the realism of paranormal powers with a female
lead that leads to several camera malfunctions and creepy moments in
realistic re-enactment form.
Dr.
Henry West (William Mapother) founded The Atticus Institute to study
paranormal activity including, E.S.P. and psychokinesis. Despite
witnessing several noteworthy cases, nothing could have prepared Dr.
West and his colleagues for Judith Winstead (Rya Kihlstedt). She
outperforms every previous subject as her powers are realized to be
demonic in nature. The U.S. Government intervenes and attempts to
weaponize her abilities which prove to have dire consequences. Now
after nearly forty years, the classified events at the Atticus
Institute are being made public.
The
film stars William Mapother, Rya Kihlstedt (who gives an incredible
performance as Judith - the antagonist of the film) and John
Rubinstein as Marcus Wheeler.
Telling
the film in the mockumentary style works very well and helps craft a
believable story with pretty solid special effects. After the end of
the second act, the creepiness starts to become repetitive and start
to loose some appeal. All in all though, for a low budget
production, I've seen way worse.
Anchor
Bay does it again with exceptional sound and picture quality for this
disc that really knocks it out of the park with stunning 1080p 1.85 X
1 high definition transfer and a lush Dolby TrueHD lossless 5.1 track
that is crystal clear throughout the presentation.
Extras
are minimal featuring a Making
Of
and Deleted
Scenes
featurettes.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
