Area 407 introduces us to teenaged sisters Trish (Abigail Schrader) and Jessie (Samantha Lester) who are flying from New York to Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Trish has decided to document everything with her video camera. After chatting with some of their fellow passengers, they settle in for the trip. However, after a short time, the plane hits turbulence and crashes. The impact tears the plane in two and Trish and Jessie, along the other survivors from the tail section, attempt to figure out what they should do next, as it's dark and they've landed in a desolate area. Lois (Samantha Sloyan), the flight attendant, informs the scared passengers that the pilot radioed for help just before the crash, so a rescue should be on the way. This waiting is abruptly interrupted when something comes out of the darkness and attacks the group. They flee from the crash site, finding some abandoned buildings, but not help -- although a vehicle does approach and then leave. As they wait for the sun to come up, they realize that they are being stalked by something.

Regular visitors to this site know that I always try to give credit where credit is due, and with Area 407, I have to say that the movie has a good idea. But, that's all that it has -- an idea. There's no real plot or narrative here -- it's simply one idea stretched out to 80 minutes. The weird thing about Area 407 is that five, yes five, people are credited with the story and a sixth individual is created with the screenplay. And, it took two people to direct it. Even if the excuse is that both were operating hand-held cameras for the movie, that's still one director too many. Filmmaking is certainly a collaborative effort, but with that many people working together, you would think that someone would have come up with an idea which goes at least one step further than "a plane crashes in J_ _ _ _ _ _ _ P _ _ _".

According to IMDB.com, the entire movie was ad-libbed by the actors. I have not been able to confirm this, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. Again, the movie has no real story, so we simply sit and watch/listen to the actors talking before the plane crash and then arguing and screaming afterwards. The dialogue, which, once again, the actors may be making up, tries to fill in some blanks, but a lot of questions remain, like why Trish and Jessie are traveling without adults. But, queries like that won't trouble you for long as you'll be too busy wondering when something is going to happen. You know as movie is bad when it contains a plane crash and still feels mind-crushingly boring. Getting back to the dialogue, the movie lost me in the first minute, as Trish talks to everyone on the plane and strikes up conversations with complete strangers. Now, I'm not saying that I've never talked to my neighbor on a plane, but if I'm flying alone, I typically try to keep to myself. Trish acts as if she's running a talk show. Thus, we are treated to a seemingly endless conversation with Trish, Jessie, and Jimmy (James Lyons) and Jessie's aspirations of being a photographer and her driving ability. The plane crashing is a blessing.

Once the plane lands, things don't get any better, as we are now treated to nausea-inducing shots where the camera is running through the darkness. When the people aren't running, they are bickering and the dialogue rarely rises above "You shut up." "No, you shut up." The unsteady camerawork becomes even more questionable when the group enters a vehicle which is supposedly in motion, but we only see the floor. Is this the found-footage equivalent of the old "poor man's process" where actors pretended that the car was moving? We never see what is stalking the group, but by the end we know what it was. We just never learn why this would be happening. The last thing that this movie needed was to be far-fetched.

I do have to say that the last shot in Area 407 was effective, but most won't make it that far, as the movie has many problems. The worst of which becomes evident from the first second of the film. If you were going to go through with making this movie, why would you cast someone with an incredibly annoying voice to narrate much of it? I'm sure that the girl who played Trish is very nice, but her voice is grating and hearing her describe things which we can readily see made Area 407 an exercise in patience. As Area 407 had a beginning, middle, and end, it remains behind Knock Knock 2 in the running for worst found footage movie, but it certainly gave its all.

Area 407 wastes a perfectly good airplane set on DVD courtesy of IFC Films/MPI Media. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. Being a found footage movie, the quality of the video is somewhat hard to judge. Overall, the image is sharp and clear, and it serves its purpose. However, the movie is being shot by flashlight, things get very dark at times. The shaking of the camera produces very blurry images and some artifacting. In the end, this looks exactly what it's supposed to be -- a home movie. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The plane crash scene offers some nice surround sound and subwoofer effects, and there are some effective effects from the rear channels once the plane is on the ground. The dialogue gets garbled at times, but this is used to enhance the home video feel.

The only extra on the Area 407 DVD is a trailer for the movie.