Like a ping-pong ball, the found-footage genre has bounced back and forth across the Atlantic. Italy's Cannibal Holocaust appeared in 1980 and basically created the format. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project brought the first-person movie to America and launched a slew of imitators. 2007 saw [Rec] from Spain and Paranormal Activity from the U.S. Now, it seems that we get regular entries into the genre from both Europe and the United States. One of the latest participants from the Old Country is the Spanish film Atrocious.

Atrocious is told from the point of view of Cristian (Cristian Valencia) and July (Clara Moraleda) are siblings who, according to their introduction, like to make videos which focus on urban legends. (It's implied that this is something which they do regularly.) However, they won't be able to make a new video, as their family is going on vacation. The pair, along with their brother, Jose (Sergi Martin) and their parents (Chus Pereiro and Xavi Doz), travel to Sitges, where they arrive at an old house where they've spent time in the past. After settling in, Cristian and July explore the hedge maze on the property. Cristian talks about a local legend which tells the story of the ghost of a little girl which helps people in the maze. The trip is pretty mundane until their dad has to return to the city on business. Following this, many strange things begin to happen and Cristian and July realize that the whole family may be in danger.

As you know, no movie is perfect and all movies are the sums of their parts. Most movies have good scenes and those which don't work. Movies like Atrocious can be very frustrating when scrutinized in this manner. The third act of the film opens with a scene which does a very good job of creating tension.
Writer/Director Fernando Barreda Luna clearly grasps what a powerful cinematic force the first-person camera can be. I don't want to give away what happens in this scene, but I can say that the characters are attempting to evade something scary and as they flee, we watch the edges of the frame looking for something menacing. We know that they are going to run into something scary or that something is going to jump out at them, and waiting for this to happen actually creates some tension. Of course, the running with the camera footage is a bit nauseating, but these scenes definitely work.

But then we have the rest of the movie. I don't know if we've seen a good hedge-maze in a horror movie since The Shining, and Atrocious makes sure to introduce the one featured here. But, after several minutes of a first-person viewpoint of the Cristian and July wandering the maze, the audience begins to get very bored. I lost track of whether the movie was trying to simply show us the maze or simulate the feeling of being lost within its confines, but these scenes seem to go on forever. At the very least, the characters could have talked during these scenes, but they don't, and thus, there is no character development here. Save for the opening on-camera introduction, we learn zero about anybody here. And then we have the ending. Again, the third act actually begins to build some momentum as something finally starts to happen, but that all comes crashing down when the explanation for the film's events is given. In short, it doesn't make any sense. To expand on that idea, it presents us with the most ludicrous and illogical reason ever given in a horror movie. Luna tries to present us with something different, but apparently he didn't do enough on-line research, as it all falls flat.

Atrocious is an interesting movie, as it serves as a prime example of the pros and cons of the found footage phenomenon. The movie shows how viewing the action through the character's eyes can create claustrophobia and a sense of panic. But, it also shows that even in the different format, a well thought out story is still the key to a good movie.

Atrocious shows that the Spanish have an odd way of spelling "Julie" on DVD courtesy of Vivendi Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing very little grain and no defects from the source material which aren't an intentional part of the artistic presentation. The image is crisp, but unlike some other movies in this genre, this looks like something shot on cameras which a couple of teenagers would have -- it looks good, but not overly slick. This actually adds to the movie. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This mix makes effective use of the front and rear channels and we get some nice examples of sounds coming from off-screen. This works well in the maze and during the finale. This creates a good sense of space and emphasizes the feeling that the characters are being chased.

The Atrocious DVD contains only two extras. "The Shooting of Atrocious" (14 minutes) contains comments from Writer/Director Fernando Barreda Luna who describes the casting, how improvisation was used on-set, the locations and the challenges they presented, training the actors to use the camera, and the make-up effects. In addition, we learn that none of the actors knew how the story ended until it was time to shoot it. We also hear from actors Cristian Valencia and Clara Moraleda. The only other extra is the TRAILER for the movie.