Evidence   Starring: Ryan McCoy, Brett Rosenberg and Abigail Richie Showbox Home Entertainment RRP: £17.99 SBX440 Certificate: 15 Available 12 March 2012

Four friends embark on a camping trip in the isolated wilderness. Tempers fray when one of their number announces he plans to film everything for use in a documentary. After they spot a dark shape they can’t explain moving in the distance, they begin to hear strange and frightening distant sounds at night. They sound like terrified human cries. They also hear the sounds of an unseen wild creature nearby. When one of the quartet mysteriously goes missing, the others realise they are being hunted. They attempt to flee to their mobile home, only to discover it has been trashed. However, when they seek solace at a farmhouse, they only find themselves running a gauntlet of a multitude of wild and psychotic beasts...

When a film feels the need to invoke popular titles, it’s reasonable to assume that it can’t stand on its own two feet without help. In this instance it’s a poor choice, as both Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project are, in my opinion awful non-entities. In short, a lot about nothing. Evidence does indeed begin very much like the latter of those two films, but from the moment we catch a glimpse of the distant creature we know the characters are being hunted by something tangible. That makes a huge difference to the viewer who immediately appreciates the fact he/she is unlikely to be let down by a non-reveal.

The film does borrow from several sources, the main ones being the aforementioned movement from Blair Witch, through The Last House on the Left and into game territory in a last segment which threw me back some years to when I played Half Life on the PC. For me this last part was the most rewarding as, although it’s not fully explained, there are plenty of nasties to be encountered. For anyone used to horror films and their idiosyncrasies the shock moments are broadcast by the fact the camera goes on the blink or blacks out altogether for a few seconds.

Against all the odds though I found myself warming to Evidence. It’s certainly the best film of this camera POV category I’ve seen. Rather than being a lot about nothing, it’s a lot about... something. It was a little disappointing to find no proper extras, aside from a trailer, on the disc. Perhaps a commentary or behind the scenes documentary might have gone some way to explain the research facility.

6

Ty Power