THE CHANGING OF BEN MOORE has an interesting premise: the eponymous character has not been himself lately. He can't sleep or eat, and he has these mysterious blackouts at night during which he acts increasingly strange. His best friend investigates and together they decide to document the investigation.
This found footage horror film had the potential to be much better than it turned out to be. That is mainly because the script underdelivered on the premise. For one thing, the prologue states that this is footage on a found camera, which practically begs for an epilogue after the conclusion that clarifies a few things, but nothing comes forth at the conclusion.
We don't know the origin of Ben's Jekyll and Hyde transformation, we don't know what happened to the bodies of his two friends, and the sublot with the exorcist or, for that matter, the girlfriend's parents, goes nowhere. Finally, we don't even know what happens to Ben in the end. That is too many loose ends for my taste.
The other big problem is that the plot relies too much on the stupidity of the characters. It already begins with the fact that right from the beginning we, the audience, see that Ben's eyes change when he is possessed, but the characters apparently do not notice.
Despite having ample indications and talking as if he understands the implications of the situation, his best friend does not even begin to seriously question whether Ben is behind the unsettling goings-on until late in the movie and then, instead of calling the police, he unwisely decides to investigate himself.
Having pointed out the two main flaws, let me mention that the production values and acting, especially by the main character, were decent.
I also liked that the CGI effects were not overdone. Many horror films digitally distort a character's face in scary moments to such a grotesque extent that it becomes silly, but not here. The digital enhancement of the roaring mouth was done just enough that it remained within the realm of plausibility, and that added genuine scariness.
Overall, this is an average found footage horror film.
This found footage horror film had the potential to be much better than it turned out to be. That is mainly because the script underdelivered on the premise. For one thing, the prologue states that this is footage on a found camera, which practically begs for an epilogue after the conclusion that clarifies a few things, but nothing comes forth at the conclusion.
We don't know the origin of Ben's Jekyll and Hyde transformation, we don't know what happened to the bodies of his two friends, and the sublot with the exorcist or, for that matter, the girlfriend's parents, goes nowhere. Finally, we don't even know what happens to Ben in the end. That is too many loose ends for my taste.
The other big problem is that the plot relies too much on the stupidity of the characters. It already begins with the fact that right from the beginning we, the audience, see that Ben's eyes change when he is possessed, but the characters apparently do not notice.
Despite having ample indications and talking as if he understands the implications of the situation, his best friend does not even begin to seriously question whether Ben is behind the unsettling goings-on until late in the movie and then, instead of calling the police, he unwisely decides to investigate himself.
Having pointed out the two main flaws, let me mention that the production values and acting, especially by the main character, were decent.
I also liked that the CGI effects were not overdone. Many horror films digitally distort a character's face in scary moments to such a grotesque extent that it becomes silly, but not here. The digital enhancement of the roaring mouth was done just enough that it remained within the realm of plausibility, and that added genuine scariness.
Overall, this is an average found footage horror film.
