At its best, this low-budget found-footage horror recalls the early Paranormal Activity films, with plenty of jump-scares and low-fi atmospheric eeriness. The “found footage” here isn’t black-and-white security videos though, but the bodycams worn by a pair of cops on what they initially believe to be a routine domestic violence call in a neighbourhood noted for its large population of “tweakers” (AKA methamphetamine addicts).
Shot on location in Alberta, Canada, the film makes good use of real derelict locations, giving a plausible griminess to a broadly supernatural tale. The bodycam conceit starts out as an ace up the film’s sleeve before gradually becoming a bit of a liability, though in a way that is different from the usual pitfalls of the genre. In most found-footage films, the nagging question is why and how the filming would plausibly continue – there is usually a point where a character’s self-preservation would take precedence over neatly capturing whatever mayhem is going down. The bodycam conceit handily avoids this issue – the filming is passive and the cameras cannot be turned off.
