Exists (2014) Review!!

Synopsis – A group of friends who venture into the remote Texas woods for a party weekend find themselves stalked by Bigfoot.

My Take – I think I have proven my love for found footage films well enough over the years, by nearly watching everyone one of them which have been coming out over the course of the past 3 – 4 years. This time the man behind the revolution, Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), once again reunites himself and his crew deep into the woods. Instead of being attacked by a ghostly witch we never get to see, we are introduced to big foot. Well is the film great? Lets analyze.

Well I have seen quite some big foot movies, the one which has hindered long in my memory has been Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes (2012), but unlike this film the latter actually shows the monster. That could be a good or a bad thing, depending on the costumes and special effects used. While The Lost Coast Tapes did a great job while not showing the creature, and Exists does a good job showing it. There’s not really much imagination needed when you think of what big foot looks like; tall, hairy, ape or man-like, seriously! Well the story is pretty cliche – There are five teens, the white leader, the black tough guy, the blonde, the smart girl, and the unlikable cameraman, who are at this cabin for some reason and nobody knows they are there. And then they mess with Bigfoot & get hunted down one by one. Sanchez has made sure the tone is kept pretty creepy, just like his previous one. `But unfortunately the movie left me more confused than entertained. What makes a found footage film great are the emotional weight and deep characters that give purpose to the surrounding action. That is exactly what is missing in Exists.

It isn’t necessarily a bad film, but its generic, an almost worse crime. The pace is kept pretty solid, but in order to get to the point, the film clearly misses an opportunity for any character development. As result, we don’t care about who dies! The film lacks that raw ingredient that every film needs. The found footage only works in spots, and is glaringly misguided in others. The major crime the makers have committed, from the point of a found footage film is, at times they seems to forget about the POV standard as some cameras magically appear out of nowhere in the woods. Where did it come from? Whose camera was it? It’s not logical, and it totally brings the film down. I actually found the style to be degrading to the quality of the movie. Sanchez has style and I wish he upped his game. Probably the only plus point for the film goes to Big foot himself/herself, which was terrifying & made to look just like they have been talked about! On the whole Exists in not a bad film, but its not great either, it lies somewhere in between as a passable affair, while people looking for jump scares wont be disappointed, found footage lovers will!