The Collingswood Story

source: The Collingswood Story

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source: The Collingswood Story

I am normally more generous with found footage and indie movies, but this one is pretty bad. I want you to think back to all the old junior high horror paperbacks, eighties horror movies, and urban legends you've heard about. Take a bit from each one, put them together and you've got this movie - it's nothing but standard fare haunted house storytelling with the narcissistic element of being the star of your own webcam show. It's really too bad, since some real effort was put toward making this movie. I could tell that the actors and director were personally invested in this movie. This movie is not 100% bad, but the slow moving plot and pointless personal drama make it nearly unbearable to watch. The webcam idea is great for found footage, but the fake computer screen was a terrible idea. None of the characters were well written or likable in this movie. The dialogue was written very poorly. If I could say anything positive about this, it would be that there is no shaky camera footage to make me sick. The last ten minutes or so was suspenseful and genuinely scary. There were good sound effects and ambiance sequences were kept at a minimum. Other than that, I really didn't enjoy it at all. I'm a fan of low budget and found footage movies, and I saw this because of all the high ratings. I thought I'd found a gem of a movie to pass on. Sadly, that's just not the case.

"The Collingswood Story," told entirely through webcam footage, follows a young woman, Rebecca, who has relocated to Collingswood, New Jersey to attend Rutgers University. To stay in touch with her boyfriend Johnny, the two communicate via video chat. One night, he plays a prank by setting her up to chat with a bizarre online psychic. The psychic not only seems to know personal details about the couple, but also the dark history of the house that Rebecca has moved into—a history that includes ritual murder and strange goings-on in the attic. Released in 2002, this film has often been compared to "The Blair Witch Project," though there is a notable difference in presentation here, as "Collingswood" is framed through online video chat. Years later, the film is something of a time capsule of an era in which wi-fi and smartphones did not exist, and webcams were a new technology. In that sense, the film feels dated, but also strangely current given that video chat has become a cultural mainstay. The narrative arc here is quite simple, taking place over a period of a few days before Halloween, in which the two characters come to the conclusion that there is something very odd about the house Rebecca has rented a room in. There are a few amateurish flashy scare effects here and there, and the editing is at at times rather choppy, but the bulk of the film consists of one-on-one video conversations that are weirdly absorbing. The two leads manage to make the conversations surprisingly believable, and the film is very atmospheric; which is odd given that we rarely get any glimpses of the world outside of their respective bedrooms. In spite of that, there is a distinctive, chilly autumnal atmosphere that creeps into the film—the characters only seem to video chat in the evenings, and watching the conversations gives the audience the voyeuristic sense that we're looking in on their private lives and personal spaces. Ancillary to the central plot is Billy, one of Johnny's friends who appears (also via webcam correspondence), while the enigmatic Vera Madeline is the bizarre online psychic. Her scenes are among the most unnerving, drenched in darkness and lit only by a row of candles behind her; her hair is slicked back, and she inexplicably dons sunglasses. It's just generally weird, and aesthetically unnerving. The conclusion to the film is a bit ambiguous, and though the last ten minutes are notably suspenseful, I felt a bit disappointed when the credits rolled. The end scene is very much frightening, but didn't pack enough torque to truly satisfy in my opinion. All in all though, "The Collingswood Story" is nonetheless an absorbing indie horror movie. It's dated in some regards and wears its amateurish qualities on its sleeve, but there is something surprisingly engrossing about it in its simplicity. Through the format, the viewer is allowed access into the interior worlds of the characters, where something very unusual begins to take hold, and there is something inexplicably frightening about that. Films like "Paranormal Activity" would come to recreate a similar formula in flashier ways. 7/10.

One of the most boring movies I ever seen, not scary or thrilling at all, just plain boring and uninteresting. I would rather watch TV shop for 5 hours straight, than this. If the goal is bore people to death, then they achieved it. If you're having an insomnia this movie will definitely fix it. Bad bad bad

I am a fan of B rate horror movies, but this one was a waste of an hour and a half. I don't understand where all the great ratings for this are coming from to be honest. Maybe they saw a different movie than I did. The story was okay, and the acting was decent. However this movie could have easily been accomplished in about 10 minutes of screen time. This movie is definitely an exercise of stretching out a story as far a s possible to make it a feature length film. To say I was bored through most of it is an understatement. This movie should have been conceived as a creepy pasta 10 min movie on youtube, then maybe it would have worked.

"The Collingswood Story" is about couple Rebecca and John who stay in touch via webcam after she had to move to Collingswood for her studies. Soon they start to find out about the dark past of the place she just moved into... Admittedly, that reads just like a premise to your average haunted house flick. But "The Collingswood Story" is a somewhat refreshing take on that genre. Honestly, I'm a little sad that some reviewers seem to really hate this movie. I find some of their points completely incorrect. Maybe it's because I'm not an English native but I found the acting to be pretty decent and natural and not stiff or unrelatable. I have to admit the movie's desktop design and the webcam app are soooo 90's! But considering this flick is from 2002 it was way ahead of its time and surpasses modern desktop horror movies like "Unknown User" easily. I think this is because of character development and overall atmosphere. Given the fact some of the reviewers who didn't like it considered themselves found footage fans they seemed to expect your typical "Grave Encounters" kind of stuff. That's not what "The Collingswood Story" is about. The story unfolds pretty slowly and is less about throwing jump scare after jump scare at you. There is a LOT of talking but if you allow yourself to be drawn into this film you'll find that it really is about uncovering the mystery while giving you a creepy feeling along the way. The relationship between the two leads is written well and most of the time I found myself convinced I was watching a real video chat between real people. The "raw" style does add to a certain authenticity. After all, the producers took the first indie rule "Keep it simple, keep it in one place and make it about story and character" and went with it. The result is a highly atmospheric film that is very enjoyable, especially if you're into mystery. But this one might not be for you if you're after shaky cam and cardboard characters who are only there to get slaughtered.

I love horror, and I also love found footage. However, I feel the latter is not often used to its potential, and I'm always on the lookout for a film that really uses found footage in an interesting way. Finally, after looking for several years, I was able to watch The Collingswood Story. Right from the beginning, it had a creepy vibe; you get a strange shot to propel you into this vague story. The story is essentially like any "haunted house" type deal, but it works through things differently. A young girl goes off to college; her and her boyfriend decide to use webcams to communicate, stay in touch, et cetera. Slowly, after meeting an online psychic who does readings via webcam, the couple begin to discover some strange things about the house the girl has moved into. One thing I understand about this film that people tend to not like is that there is a LOT of dialogue going on, and for the better part of the film you don't really get any big scares until getting closer to the end. However, it's the slow reveal that I really enjoyed because I was honestly floored when I got to the end, and the final 20-25 minutes gets terrifying (for me). I really enjoy any good horror story that involves cults, or weird religious sects, those type of things because it's just something innate in me that finds those things quite creepy (if done well). I really think The Collingswood Story (coming from back in 2002, especially) deserves more credit, and I think it's got to be because of distribution that people haven't seen it. I hope more people get a chance to watch it. It's really a well done film on a low budget, and for those who stick with the story, you'll be rewarded by a wild little ending. 8 out of 10, highly recommend it.

I caught this from Showtime after seeing the "raving" reviews here on IMDb. 6,5 average score for a low budget horror movie on a channel which shows a lot of crap got me really interested. First hour into the movie is really good and gripping, I can't remember being this hooked on a movie for quite some time. There are basically only two characters who talk to each other with a video phone. There is no action and just a few outdoor scenes. Most of the time you're looking at what the characters are seeing, which is the desktop of their computer with the video phone screen. It's a good old scary story delivered by a good script (for the most part) and surprisingly good acting, considering the low budget and I'm guessing amateur cast. Even tho the story is good, there are problems. For starters, the movie looks cheap. Really cheap and lacks style, beginning from the opening titles, which looks almost as if someone made them as a joke. This doesn't matter too much tho, and it maybe even works for the benefit of the movie. The movie is dated 2002 but the computer interfaces look as if they came from early 90's or even 80's. And those screens are what you will be looking at for most of the time. The real problem comes with the ending though. I watched it at least five times but I still don't get it. There is some nice editing and a twist, but you can't really figure out what actually happens, at least I didn't. It really is a pity, because otherwise the movie nails it. Hats off for good effort. Catch it if you can, I recommend to those who are into stories rather than a lot of action. There may be some clues earlier to the movie which unlock the ending, but I couldn't find them. I'm giving a six and being quite generous by doing so. This would've been 8 out of 10 if the ending had made any sense. Oh yeah, I also couldn't figure out how the video phone actually worked? It's a detail, but it bugged the geek out of me.