I just wanted to pop in here from emortal Marcus’s page, and tell you I love your series, but by far this one had me so on edge and scared for the next part. All your work is phenomenal please never stop and I can’t wait for your next work
Loved the sounds of the hole placed in there it was very good for connecting them all together i was honestly expecting Oracle or the prophet to say something to Daniel. Very good 👍
*No spoilers in this section* This was honestly SO good!!! There is just so much to love here. I can certainly see a lot of inspiration from Paranormal Activity but I like this QUITE a bit better. The main thing here was the writing. It kept me so engaged and invested the whole time. The mystery kept me going. Even as I was catching on and piecing things together, having watched all of Emortal Marcus' videos on the previous series and also just being pretty narrative literate, I was still so invested in what was going to happen next. I thought the writing was by far the strongest part. The pacing was also EXCELLENT. Pacing is such a tricky thing, and something that other similar movies struggle with quite a bit. Not to compare too much with the Paranormal Activity movies but their pacing is one of their weakest points for me besides their writing and you on the other hand really managed it incredibly well. I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for the next spooky thing to happen. I was always engaged, we were always learning new information and the story was always moving forward and that is VERY admirable! The way it was shot was excellent too. You did a great job of switching between the cameras that had the "found footage", "documentary", "vlog", and just "movie" vibes as needed and kept the energy seamless and consistent in a way most movies that switch between them don't manage to do. I also found the characters' actions and motivations to be genuine and for the most part believable. They really felt like a couple trying to deal with this strange happening that have been for a really long time. Past the point of being actively freaked out by it, but still wanting answers. It was a good time to step into the story and that felt overall solid. I also liked that you didn't need to watch the prior Vintage 8 materials to enjoy it but if you DID then through the whole thing you had a much deeper insight and could be going "AH AH AH THE THING! THE THING!!!!!!!!!" and still very much enjoy it, but still have enough mystery and intrigue that it wasn't dull either. I think it was a wise choice not to bring in some of the more wild aspects of the Vintage 8 universe into this and other than some things towards the end, it was comparatively a grounded and fairly easy to follow story. Keeping the effects overall minimal and using them wisely where they mattered was also very good, there was only one part they really felt like they failed to serve and other than that, they did very well.
*After this point there are spoilers* Here are some points of feedback that I have for this production for both the writing, effects, and acting: Writing: Overall the writing was very solid and the best part of the whole film. The points I'd say that were a little weaker were that we did have very little opportunity to bond with the husband and wife at the beginning. I didn't feel VERY invested in Shelly as a character at any point, and while it felt like Daniel loved her dearly, she never really felt very sympathetic or fleshed out beside the one moment where she was talking about her fears of not knowing what was real or not at their dinner conversation. That I'd say was the weakest point in the production. I always understood that she was kinda going for that horror movie "I'm a little too casual about this" attitude but it was a little overdone at points especially towards the middle. I'd have liked to have seen her take a bit more agency and have a bit more concern and emotional conflict, like she did towards her abduction. Some good points for this would have been where he stopped her with the knife, though her not recognizing it was creepier, having her realize how close she came to hurting him would have added a lot more emotional depth to the character and having that never addressed by her was a missed opportunity. I very much appreciated that Daniel didn't die at the end like most horror movie husbands. He clearly cared a lot about his wife and whenever that happens it's always just SO unsatisfying and depressing. Having him go on as a tragic survivor, knowing what happened and what was taken from him and with the reveal of "Mary", the possibility of them going on to help others, it left open so many more narrative possibilities. That made the ending so much more satisfying so I REALLY liked that about the ending. It was more emotional than him just dying and her being taken, that would have honestly been such a disappointing way to end and I kinda expected that's where it was going, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Also he was very handsome and charismatic and so I was maybe rooting for him a little harder than I would have normally so bonus points there. The reveal of the neighbor being Mary was a GREAT little twist and I honestly loved it but the dialogue itself was very stilted and awkward. I'm definitely curious about what happened to the neighbor and his husband and I assume his sister was also replaced (or he just uses her name so people won't react poorly when he mentions his husband), but the action dialogue around him was very clumsy and I would have liked a little bit more there. I REALLY liked him helping Daniel out at the end though, it was a good scene and ending in and of itself. My last major note for the writing was toward the end the aliens mention that they have united with Shelly, they also mention that they won't hurt him because she loves him, but not having any actual input from Shelly is again, another missed opportunity. If she'd been able to speak through at any point toward the end, if her personality had shown through or if it had really shown that she had protected him a bit and was still "in there" it would have been much more emotional and impactful. Shelly had so little agency in the story and again that would have given her just a bit more agency and strength as a character and shown that her love for Daniel really was protecting him. Effects: As I mentioned, keeping your effects to a minimum was wise. I always expected Shelly to bust out some sort of supernatural powers and she never did, and honestly that was pretty good in itself. Keeping the big effects for the ufo at the end was a good idea. But I'm sure some people have mentioned it did look a little hokey. It wasn't BAD though. I would say you probably just showed it probably 70% more than you should have. If you'd just kept that very first shot of it moving through the clouds and nothing else. it would have been perfect, but you showed it a bit too much and that left it a bit too open for scrutiny. But even then, for an indie production it was still REALLY GOOD so don't make any mistake, people are just jaded by multi-hundred million dollar productions. Just keep that in mind for the future, sometimes unless you're VERY confident in your effect, a brief glimpse is better than a straight-on shot. The worst effect honestly was the stab. That was at the risk of sounding a little mean some college film 101 level violence and it almost took me out of it completely. I don't know what exactly went wrong there but it was just so fake and between both the acting, visuals, audio, and the way it was shot it was honestly I think the worst like 5 seconds of the entire movie. But, that's just something to work on for the future. The points where Daniel was getting hit by the detective just moments before in contrast I thought were quite good. I would note that toward the last few minutes the editing does seem to take a bit of a dip, the cuts feel more awkward, a bit jumpier, and the way it's shot feels much lower quality as well, not from just the "lower quality" cameras Daniel's using in the story, but it feels like suddenly a slightly lower quality production than the rest of the film.
Acting: Overall the acting was quite decent. Not perfect, there were some eh moments but I thought it was solid. Especially once you look back and realize the points of the side actors where you're like "Oh... oh they were someone IMITATING a normal person, that's why they seemed... off." like the doctor, it's much better in hindsight than in the moment. I think the actor that played the head of the CDC did a GREAT job of the personality switch, honestly his performance was one of the best ones in the production and was so genuinely unsettling. For Daniel I'd say overall really good, but a bit too held back in areas. It felt like he was far too restrained emotionally. He also in a lot of moments seemed to lack urgency and engagement. The two main moments I'd point at were when Shelly was taken and when she showed up again. When she was taken he reacted a bit more like someone who just missed their Fedex driver not like someone whose wife was just kidnapped. He didn't seem frantic, terrified, panicked, just kind of confused. When she came back he should have been BOLTING to that door, even with her weird behavior he should have been really showing the shock and excitement; his WIFE just CAME BACK after being missing for six days straight. His strongest moments were in the one-on-one conversations with her and his conversations with the camera. His line delivery was excellent and his dialogue felt very believable. Like when he was begging them not to take his wife it felt SO believable I got a bit emotional. He's VERY good at conveying emotion verbally, I think he just needs to be a bit less restrained in showing that physically and really get into the moment a bit stronger. I'm not sure how much of that was acting and how much of that was directing though so some of that may have been on the director as with some of my notes for Shelly below. For Shelly she did a great job with her transitions and she did a great job with all three versions of herself that she played. She definitely had the hardest role and overall I'd say she knocked it out of the park. There were a couple of points like where she was just standing and looking at the camera raising her eyebrows where it felt like she was trying a liiiiittle too hard to be spooky but I think that was more a direction thing than acting thing. She had a lot of REALLY good moments like when she was walking by while sleepwalking and would just subtly glare at the camera, absolutely fantastic. I'd say her weaker points were more when she was more "herself", she didn't really convey feeling disoriented or rattled by the experience very much and I think could have brought a bit more emotion into those parts and a bit more emotion into her dinner conversation with Daniel. She never FELT like someone who was "always tired", she felt more like someone who always had 3 coffees and a morning jog. Again though, I'm not sure how much of this was action and how much was direction and I definitely want to stress she did an excellent job. The detective I think was probably the most stilted of the actors, but I don't have a ton to say there, it felt mostly just like a matter of experience. He just felt like a bit of an inexperienced actor who needs to keep acting and getting more comfortable with being IN character rather than A character. His strongest moments were when he was talking about "the kids" they "caught" and the scene at the table where they were "wrapping up" the case. He DEFINITELY conveyed that feeling of "wrongness" fantastically! The doctor did a very good job overall of conveying his character, he felt at first like just a jerk and then as you learn more what's going on you really understand "oh there is something WRONG with this guy." Even then though it felt the most like he was the one reading off a script, especially towards the end. He felt a bit more like he was leaning towards "movie villain" and his line deliveries were way too stiff and "rehearsed". He does a really good job of conveying the character with his expressions and movements though and besides his line delivery I really enjoyed his performance! I think maybe another take of his line of "there's no need to execute this man, his body simply acted in self defense" (or cutting the line altogether, it's not a very good line) might have been to his benefit though. And for Mary's actor honestly he did a great job of conveying his character as well for the very little time he was in the story. I don't have much feedback for him because of how little he was on screen but I really liked his delivery when he mentioned his sister. If the same thing happened to his husband and his sister you really have to wonder how much he's been through and I think maybe a bit more tenderness could have been put into his delivery there, but he did a very solid job with the character through the rest of the film. So yeah I hope that is some constructive feedback for future endeavors! :D I think everyone involved did an amazing job and this is SUCH an impressive piece of work! This deserves so much recognition for the amazing amount of skill and work that went into it.
Gotta be real with you, I think your stories were better without the actors. Why? Cause you now fall into the same shortcomings as any other regular film maker. Example - when the cameras all get taken out at the same time, how does our protagonist react? ... reach for a gun? Call the cops? Get a baseball bat? ... no, he reaches for his camera so he can continue filming. That is the same nonsense that the movie REC does, the camera man ignores all logic so that the found footage angle can continue. Also, plot convenience, like certain plot important characters being right next door, making the world very small.
I just wanted to pop in here from emortal Marcus’s page, and tell you I love your series, but by far this one had me so on edge and scared for the next part. All your work is phenomenal please never stop and I can’t wait for your next work
I cannot believe how good this is! Fantastic job! Starts really strong and still manages to build dread. Great film!
This is a fantastic film. 👏🏻 Bravo
Thanks!
Yes it is also the other series great job 👏🏻
AMAZING FILM, you are truly an inspiration
Loved the sounds of the hole placed in there it was very good for connecting them all together i was honestly expecting Oracle or the prophet to say something to Daniel. Very good 👍
Классный фильм, лучше многих хорроров с большим бюджетом, актёрская игра главных героев тоже на высоте
1:33 goddam , someone get that lady a sandwich
That's was an impressive stomach growl 😂
I had to go back and see what you were talking about. Congrats, you got me!
I absolutely loved the line shellys blood at the end. The way the actor delivered it was so horrified, curious, sad, bravo. I loved this
*No spoilers in this section* This was honestly SO good!!! There is just so much to love here. I can certainly see a lot of inspiration from Paranormal Activity but I like this QUITE a bit better. The main thing here was the writing. It kept me so engaged and invested the whole time. The mystery kept me going. Even as I was catching on and piecing things together, having watched all of Emortal Marcus' videos on the previous series and also just being pretty narrative literate, I was still so invested in what was going to happen next. I thought the writing was by far the strongest part. The pacing was also EXCELLENT. Pacing is such a tricky thing, and something that other similar movies struggle with quite a bit. Not to compare too much with the Paranormal Activity movies but their pacing is one of their weakest points for me besides their writing and you on the other hand really managed it incredibly well. I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for the next spooky thing to happen. I was always engaged, we were always learning new information and the story was always moving forward and that is VERY admirable!
The way it was shot was excellent too. You did a great job of switching between the cameras that had the "found footage", "documentary", "vlog", and just "movie" vibes as needed and kept the energy seamless and consistent in a way most movies that switch between them don't manage to do. I also found the characters' actions and motivations to be genuine and for the most part believable. They really felt like a couple trying to deal with this strange happening that have been for a really long time. Past the point of being actively freaked out by it, but still wanting answers. It was a good time to step into the story and that felt overall solid. I also liked that you didn't need to watch the prior Vintage 8 materials to enjoy it but if you DID then through the whole thing you had a much deeper insight and could be going "AH AH AH THE THING! THE THING!!!!!!!!!" and still very much enjoy it, but still have enough mystery and intrigue that it wasn't dull either. I think it was a wise choice not to bring in some of the more wild aspects of the Vintage 8 universe into this and other than some things towards the end, it was comparatively a grounded and fairly easy to follow story. Keeping the effects overall minimal and using them wisely where they mattered was also very good, there was only one part they really felt like they failed to serve and other than that, they did very well.
*After this point there are spoilers*
Here are some points of feedback that I have for this production for both the writing, effects, and acting:
Writing:
Overall the writing was very solid and the best part of the whole film. The points I'd say that were a little weaker were that we did have very little opportunity to bond with the husband and wife at the beginning. I didn't feel VERY invested in Shelly as a character at any point, and while it felt like Daniel loved her dearly, she never really felt very sympathetic or fleshed out beside the one moment where she was talking about her fears of not knowing what was real or not at their dinner conversation. That I'd say was the weakest point in the production. I always understood that she was kinda going for that horror movie "I'm a little too casual about this" attitude but it was a little overdone at points especially towards the middle. I'd have liked to have seen her take a bit more agency and have a bit more concern and emotional conflict, like she did towards her abduction. Some good points for this would have been where he stopped her with the knife, though her not recognizing it was creepier, having her realize how close she came to hurting him would have added a lot more emotional depth to the character and having that never addressed by her was a missed opportunity.
I very much appreciated that Daniel didn't die at the end like most horror movie husbands. He clearly cared a lot about his wife and whenever that happens it's always just SO unsatisfying and depressing. Having him go on as a tragic survivor, knowing what happened and what was taken from him and with the reveal of "Mary", the possibility of them going on to help others, it left open so many more narrative possibilities. That made the ending so much more satisfying so I REALLY liked that about the ending. It was more emotional than him just dying and her being taken, that would have honestly been such a disappointing way to end and I kinda expected that's where it was going, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Also he was very handsome and charismatic and so I was maybe rooting for him a little harder than I would have normally so bonus points there.
The reveal of the neighbor being Mary was a GREAT little twist and I honestly loved it but the dialogue itself was very stilted and awkward. I'm definitely curious about what happened to the neighbor and his husband and I assume his sister was also replaced (or he just uses her name so people won't react poorly when he mentions his husband), but the action dialogue around him was very clumsy and I would have liked a little bit more there. I REALLY liked him helping Daniel out at the end though, it was a good scene and ending in and of itself.
My last major note for the writing was toward the end the aliens mention that they have united with Shelly, they also mention that they won't hurt him because she loves him, but not having any actual input from Shelly is again, another missed opportunity. If she'd been able to speak through at any point toward the end, if her personality had shown through or if it had really shown that she had protected him a bit and was still "in there" it would have been much more emotional and impactful. Shelly had so little agency in the story and again that would have given her just a bit more agency and strength as a character and shown that her love for Daniel really was protecting him.
Effects:
As I mentioned, keeping your effects to a minimum was wise. I always expected Shelly to bust out some sort of supernatural powers and she never did, and honestly that was pretty good in itself. Keeping the big effects for the ufo at the end was a good idea. But I'm sure some people have mentioned it did look a little hokey. It wasn't BAD though. I would say you probably just showed it probably 70% more than you should have. If you'd just kept that very first shot of it moving through the clouds and nothing else. it would have been perfect, but you showed it a bit too much and that left it a bit too open for scrutiny. But even then, for an indie production it was still REALLY GOOD so don't make any mistake, people are just jaded by multi-hundred million dollar productions. Just keep that in mind for the future, sometimes unless you're VERY confident in your effect, a brief glimpse is better than a straight-on shot. The worst effect honestly was the stab. That was at the risk of sounding a little mean some college film 101 level violence and it almost took me out of it completely. I don't know what exactly went wrong there but it was just so fake and between both the acting, visuals, audio, and the way it was shot it was honestly I think the worst like 5 seconds of the entire movie. But, that's just something to work on for the future. The points where Daniel was getting hit by the detective just moments before in contrast I thought were quite good. I would note that toward the last few minutes the editing does seem to take a bit of a dip, the cuts feel more awkward, a bit jumpier, and the way it's shot feels much lower quality as well, not from just the "lower quality" cameras Daniel's using in the story, but it feels like suddenly a slightly lower quality production than the rest of the film.
Acting:
Overall the acting was quite decent. Not perfect, there were some eh moments but I thought it was solid. Especially once you look back and realize the points of the side actors where you're like "Oh... oh they were someone IMITATING a normal person, that's why they seemed... off." like the doctor, it's much better in hindsight than in the moment. I think the actor that played the head of the CDC did a GREAT job of the personality switch, honestly his performance was one of the best ones in the production and was so genuinely unsettling.
For Daniel I'd say overall really good, but a bit too held back in areas. It felt like he was far too restrained emotionally. He also in a lot of moments seemed to lack urgency and engagement. The two main moments I'd point at were when Shelly was taken and when she showed up again. When she was taken he reacted a bit more like someone who just missed their Fedex driver not like someone whose wife was just kidnapped. He didn't seem frantic, terrified, panicked, just kind of confused. When she came back he should have been BOLTING to that door, even with her weird behavior he should have been really showing the shock and excitement; his WIFE just CAME BACK after being missing for six days straight. His strongest moments were in the one-on-one conversations with her and his conversations with the camera. His line delivery was excellent and his dialogue felt very believable. Like when he was begging them not to take his wife it felt SO believable I got a bit emotional. He's VERY good at conveying emotion verbally, I think he just needs to be a bit less restrained in showing that physically and really get into the moment a bit stronger. I'm not sure how much of that was acting and how much of that was directing though so some of that may have been on the director as with some of my notes for Shelly below.
For Shelly she did a great job with her transitions and she did a great job with all three versions of herself that she played. She definitely had the hardest role and overall I'd say she knocked it out of the park. There were a couple of points like where she was just standing and looking at the camera raising her eyebrows where it felt like she was trying a liiiiittle too hard to be spooky but I think that was more a direction thing than acting thing. She had a lot of REALLY good moments like when she was walking by while sleepwalking and would just subtly glare at the camera, absolutely fantastic. I'd say her weaker points were more when she was more "herself", she didn't really convey feeling disoriented or rattled by the experience very much and I think could have brought a bit more emotion into those parts and a bit more emotion into her dinner conversation with Daniel. She never FELT like someone who was "always tired", she felt more like someone who always had 3 coffees and a morning jog. Again though, I'm not sure how much of this was action and how much was direction and I definitely want to stress she did an excellent job.
The detective I think was probably the most stilted of the actors, but I don't have a ton to say there, it felt mostly just like a matter of experience. He just felt like a bit of an inexperienced actor who needs to keep acting and getting more comfortable with being IN character rather than A character. His strongest moments were when he was talking about "the kids" they "caught" and the scene at the table where they were "wrapping up" the case. He DEFINITELY conveyed that feeling of "wrongness" fantastically!
The doctor did a very good job overall of conveying his character, he felt at first like just a jerk and then as you learn more what's going on you really understand "oh there is something WRONG with this guy." Even then though it felt the most like he was the one reading off a script, especially towards the end. He felt a bit more like he was leaning towards "movie villain" and his line deliveries were way too stiff and "rehearsed". He does a really good job of conveying the character with his expressions and movements though and besides his line delivery I really enjoyed his performance! I think maybe another take of his line of "there's no need to execute this man, his body simply acted in self defense" (or cutting the line altogether, it's not a very good line) might have been to his benefit though.
And for Mary's actor honestly he did a great job of conveying his character as well for the very little time he was in the story. I don't have much feedback for him because of how little he was on screen but I really liked his delivery when he mentioned his sister. If the same thing happened to his husband and his sister you really have to wonder how much he's been through and I think maybe a bit more tenderness could have been put into his delivery there, but he did a very solid job with the character through the rest of the film.
So yeah I hope that is some constructive feedback for future endeavors! :D I think everyone involved did an amazing job and this is SUCH an impressive piece of work! This deserves so much recognition for the amazing amount of skill and work that went into it.
Whoever the actor for Daniel is did a good job
i knew it, i knew it i knew it. i KNEW it.
this is pretty cool tho i do like this idea even if i understood the plot twist from the start
Some black walnut tea, plus sugar and turpentine does the trick when your spose has visitors.
Watched this through ages ago in parts, but great to see it all compiled. Love your work. Thank you.
Thank you!
Iconic
The bots are in this comment section in force.
The first time I read skinwalker instead of sleepwalker
oh wow... the Covid parallels are honestly scarier to me than the aliens hksvbhdfk
Their bed sounded terribly uncomfortable!!
Bon film. Intéressant.
Seen this a couple times. Good movie!! 🎥
Thanks for watching it again!
dam. this is good
1:17:33
Wait does that mean I'm already bonded cause this the best movie I've seen on UA-cam
im a bit confused because i swear i saw this on Amazon a couple months ago.
Groovy
Yay!
swag
1:19:58 awesome,
Thats a goofy movie.
No, A Goofy Movie is a movie from Disney, this is a UA-cam video from vintage eight
I'm halfway through and I believe Lopez is behind it all
New here?
Seriously. Why ruin it for other people? 👎
@@doriangrey9702what was ruined?
😂😂🤣🤣
@@doriangrey9702 ? Nothing was ruined
Gotta be real with you, I think your stories were better without the actors. Why? Cause you now fall into the same shortcomings as any other regular film maker.
Example - when the cameras all get taken out at the same time, how does our protagonist react? ... reach for a gun? Call the cops? Get a baseball bat? ... no, he reaches for his camera so he can continue filming. That is the same nonsense that the movie REC does, the camera man ignores all logic so that the found footage angle can continue. Also, plot convenience, like certain plot important characters being right next door, making the world very small.