7 Nights of Darkness

source: 7 Nights of Darkness

No great surprises here, but I wasn't expecting much from the low rating. It's a lot of people yelling at each other and don't watch if you're going to get sick of hearing the f-word Every Single Sentence. I think the actors did a good job. Unfortunately I got distracted by silly things like the fact that this 'abandoned' building appeared to have been abandoned the previous day, that since the lights clearly worked in the bathroom why the boy didn't just turn them on when wondering what was in the bathroom stall (a good scene otherwise) and that the individual interviews were all taken in the same place to judge from the peeling paint on the walls when the people should have been in different rooms. The ending was Blair Witch Project meets The Ring, but again, I don't have a problem with that. It's pretty impossible to do horror without repeating certain tropes. However overall the very similar movie "Hell House" did a much much better job.

I actually got this movie in one of those bins of $5 movies...it is in one of those "tons of movies collection" things. Sometimes you get lucky on these kinds of buys and this is one of them. I like the style they used with this pov movie. I'm not easily creeped out by any means..... however this one made me jump a couple of times....big achievement! The acting is realistic for the most part and a good range of believable characters. It's an interesting concept and keeps you paying attention for what comes next with very little if any down time...this I like very much! Granted there are a few improvements that could have been added in like maybe a little history about the asylum or the reason the challenge was set up by the host. Other than that it was quite enjoyable and if I find an individual DVD of it I will grab it for sure!!

I love the horror sub genre of found footage but have often been very disappointed with the results. Most are completely overacted with cheap scares (Bell Witch Haunting), a weak plot and unbelievable characters. Not expecting much of a film I never heard of, I was surprised by what a decent film it was. For a low budget, the scares were there -- and not just the cheap jump-out-at-you kind. I found it much better than Grave Encounters. A few of the characters did overact but fortunately, one of them goes quiet early on. And the cryptic ending gives the viewer something to think about when it is over....make sure you keep watching past the credits or you will miss it! 6/10 for a horror movie -- not bad.

While not the first, the Blair Witch was at it's time a very effective representation of found footage. (BTW look online for the never was a witch theory,but it was all a planned murder carefully crafted against heather). A side effect of this successful film was, for good or bad, a glut of similar styled formats,most notably the Paranormal series. How ever this forget able little addition fails to make good use of the genre and its potentially great setting, a psychiatric asylum. the tag says it all On April 30, 2010, six reality television show contestants spent seven nights in an abandoned and haunted asylum. The show never aired but an editor for the network was able to piece together some footage. The prize for staying all seven nights was a share of one million dollars that was to be split amongst any contestants that didn't leave. No prize money was ever awarded. We are given very little background info on the place and less unfolds as we watch. The idea of insane ghosts is great but fails to be exploited. The characters are 2 dimensional and seem unconcerned as members vanish one by one...I mean wouldn't you search the whole hospital for them? Nope, instead, it's "let's go to sleep" In one night two people disappear, and after the initial "OH $#!+, THEY VANISHED," they acknowledge it and skip off to the next nightly challenge As for scares, well, they are the usual face change, shadow in the corner schtick. The only "patient" we hear about is an unnamed little girl who haunts the place. No background, no other horrific ghosts with terrifying pasts that once lived here, just shadows. Had they gone to specific sites that were scenes of heinous acts we would be more engaged, No history of demented orderlies, over strict nurses or sadistic doctor torturing or maiming inmates. If you watch it to the end it to the end hoping for answers> There are none, simply because there are no questions

I am a fan of "found footage" films. This one started out much the same way as others in the genre do, a groups of strangers spending the night in a haunted house. But comparatively, this film falls short of its competitors. Unfortunately, none of the characters were likable enough to care what befalls them. Likable characters I believe is a pretty important factor in found footage films because they are the ones revealing the story to you. But in this film, their acting seemed forced and unnatural, and natural is what you're suppose to be going for in found footage films. The characters didn't even care what was happening to each other, which just compounded the viewers lack of caring about them. The scares were too few and far between and didn't last very long. They never explain anything about the history of the house they were in, so the viewer couldn't even connect with the ghosts. The fact that nothing is explained could work for some found footage films, but not this one because it lacked so many other things. The film seemed like someones pet project, with a slightly higher video quality. I wouldn't see it again and I wouldn't recommend it to fans of the genre.

I am a big fan of the 'found footage' genre and really appreciate the films that make you feel like you are there. I think its hard to get a lot of character development in these type of films, so I don't usually decide if i like or dislike the characters..I look more for atmosphere with tense, suspenseful scary moments..and the feeling of it being real...no blatantly 'fake' over the top acting. However, due to the first 30 minutes of this movie being full of useless chatter, arguing, and over acting, I was really irritated before any of the good (scary) stuff happened . ..there was a little more useless chatter here and there throughout the movie and it gave me the feeling that I couldn't stand these people and I wanted to get the hell away from them. This effected how I viewed the rest of the movie... The movie had good atmosphere and some scary suspenseful moments, but I didn't really enjoy them due to my continued irritation and dislike of these people.

After the success of "The Blair Witch Story," Hollywood seemed to become inundated with numerous shaky pseudo-documentary movies with "real" characters experiencing paranormal activities. "Paranormal Activity" was one of the better ones, and "7 Nights Of Darkness" is actually a hidden gem in the collection. The movie features six contestants of a hidden camera series who have to stay the night in the abandoned Madison Seminary (which is also named Ohio College Building right out front). The setting is actually a real haunted location once featured in the series, "My Ghost Story." There's no long tedious set-up or back-story about the location, in fact, the location is quite scary on its own. The plot involves the contestants staying one week in the location to win a million dollars, but over time, odd occurrences and their own imaginations start to prey on them and eventually it becomes kind of obvious that something very creepy is haunting the location. The movie is actually incredibly scary. The special effects are light, but after a while, the camera troubles and barrages of static and white noise start to get annoying. It's a very good movie to watch despite the fact it doesn't waste a lot of money on special effects.

The first 30-40 minutes are rough to watch, but the movie gets better from there. It was the first time in a long time that I actually jumped at a couple scenes. My recommendation is to watch it as if you and some friends were filming it, rather than watching it as you would a main stream horror film. Based on pure "scared feeling", i chose to give it a 6, which I believe is why you would watch a movie like this. If you are looking for great effects and A list acting, then continue your search. Overall, I would recommend it to a friend, but I would say to rent rather than buy it. No drugs/alcohol/sex. Scene with very light violence. Excessive swearing.

After the popularity of the Paranormal Activity franchise many companies decided to cash in and make their own similar micro budget movies of the same genre. One company made 9 movies under the franchise name of Paranormal Investigations, this is one of them. Filmed for an estimated $5000 budget this follows a group of reality TV show participants spending 7 nights in an abandoned asylum in order to win $1 million! As with every other one of the Paranormal Investigations movies I've seen it's shoddily made with very little actually happening and a whole lot of shaky camera work & senseless screaming. To it's credit near the end 7 Nights Of Darkness does manage to get under the viewers skin a bit, but it's simply too late. Another incredibly boring 90 minutes of lifeless ghost genre "Action" The Good: Couple of creepy moments near the end The Bad: The abandoned asylum thing has gotten really old now Scene separators are annoying Things I Learnt From This Movie: Mens lavatories are notoriously haunted Buckets are scary Threatening to sexually molest an unconscious restrained woman is totally an okay thing to do