Badly Planned Parenthood

by Emmett Barlow

A nuclear family goes into meltdown in this sick and twisted found footage thriller following a couple of overenthusiastic parents and their angelic children’s spiral into pure molten evil.

Told through the home videos of Pastor David Poe (Adrian Pasdar) and clinical psychologist Claire Poe (Cady McClain), the couple have nothing but love for their twins Jack and Emily. However, alarm bells start to sound when a series of unsettling events are captured on video; flippant family mealtimes, the discovery of satanic sketches, and a number of family pets meeting grisly ends all signal trouble. Perhaps they should have asked for a refund from Mr. Stork when the kids attempt to eat a boy at school.

The hardest aspect of a found footage feature is making the audience believe what’s played out on screen is something that would realistically be filmed. Sadly, some of the set pieces in Home Movie fall foul of that. I mean, I can almost sympathise with Jack and Emily, if my Dad tortuously filmed every inch of my day, and insisted on dressing as every holiday character (David Poe’s wardrobe is at least 60% fancy dress), I’d likely launch into a demonic murderous rebellion. That being said, the story progresses on a slim gradient that handsomely rewards those who stick around until the final unnerving crescendo.