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Five
young adults answer an Internet challenge to spend six months
in a large secluded house and grounds as part of an on-line
reality show. Every move they make is filmed and recorded.
If one person should leave or break a rule, they will all
lose out on the one million prize money. The first conflict
comes when they receive a supply parcel containing only house
bricks and a letter informing a contestant of his grandfather's
demise. He wants to leave, but the others convince him it
is a trick arranged by the organisers. When a hiker walks
in out of nowhere, and a series of weird events increases
suspicion, the five begin to question the legitimacy of the
event. But calling for outside help is harder than they imagine...
The
cinematic general release of this film left me disappointed.
At the time we were awash with reality TV, such as Big
Brother 3 and Survival, with I'm A Celebrity:
Get Me Out Of Here! and the next Michael Myers instalment,
Halloween: Resurrection just around the corner. Any
variation on this theme seemed like a rehash. It
wasn't a bad film, but it was an average outing which came
at a bad time.
Nevertheless,
My Little Eye does improve somewhat on second viewing.
Any film should sink or swim on its own merit, but watching
the Making of documentary on the extras disc does go some
way to explaining the film's intentions. The main focus here
is the isolation, rather than any conflict. The British director
says that, unlike back home where it's likely a missing person
will turn up again, in North America (where this is set) a
person can realistically vanish, never to be seen again. I'm
not certain I share his logic; however, if he's referring
to the sheer vastness of wilderness space, his logic becomes
more sound.
The interior structure of the house was designed from scratch,
utilising a disused leisure centre, and very impressive it
looks too. The attempt to create a claustrophobia by sometimes
viewing events through the house cameras doesn't entirely
succeed, however. This is mainly down to too many slow moments
in the film. The option of watching the film interactive-style
(for which you are inexplicably obliged to enter a four-digit
code) merely highlights the problem. For example, if a kettle
is boiling, it doesn't matter which angle you view it from,
it's equally uninteresting. Furthermore, the characters are
rather bland, with no real idiosyncrasies that stand out.
Who cares if somebody is butchered; this is fiction, after
all.
One
nice touch near the conclusion of the movie is the use of
night cameras, which show us the dim green hues of a character
moving through the house. The reflection of light makes the
eyes glow, like a startled rabbit's caught in twin headlights,
and the effect is quite spooky. Many scenes take place for
the sake of convenience. For example, there are no forms of
electronic communication available, but a character still
manages to lash together a crude Internet link just long enough
to discover the relevant address to be a heavily security
protected beta site, before conveniently being permanently
severed.
In short this is an average, unspectacular film, although
some credit has to be given for the attractive packaging of
this two-dvd set. The Making Of documentary is interesting;
probably more interesting than the film itself. Other extras
include eight more scenes, a series of trailers and an enthusiastic,
if not compelling, commentary. Don't believe the hype this
project emerged on, it isn't a reinvention of the horror genre.
Ty
Power
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