DVD Review of "Atrocious"

Tapping the vein of such films as "Quarantine," "The Blair Witch Project," and "Paranormal Activity" comes the movie "Atrocious."  Unfortunately, the vein in this body is tapped dry.  That's not to say a "found" footage movie can't be interesting or scary.  If you want to see something more worthwhile in this category of scare film, check out "Lake Mungo."  Great flick. 
Okay, back to "Atrocious."  This movie barely clocks in at an hour and ten minutes, and most of those precious few minutes are wasted.  Two kids check out the legend of a ghost woman who walks "the laybrinth," what's actually an elaborate courtyard in the woods type place near the big house they're staying at for the weekend.  These kids walk around, waste time, a dog is found dead, and did I mention a wishing well is involved in this story? (Remind you of another movie called "The Ring").  Towards the end, there's a scene where the two main characters, the two teenagers, are running through the woods at night, fleeing from something or someone, and I expected to see something lunge out at them or anything scary, but it doesn't happen.  It only pads the running time.  I'd say the last ten minutes would be the only minutes you'd actually want to watch.  There's a few seconds of disturbing imagery, but nothing to waste your time with, to be honest.  I don't want to spoil what actually happens, but the horror part of this movie is contained in the last five to ten minutes of the film, and the reasons for the scariness are glossed over to the point where what potential this movie had is squandered.  A family friend of the teenagers talks about the legend of this ghost woman at the beginning of the movie, but the explanation is very broad and unspecific.  So frustrating.  I feel like I've wasted my time with this movie.  Rent it and watch the last ten minutes if you really want to experience this movie and not waste your time.  All build up.  No pay off.  As a special note, rip-off films riding the success of other flicks can be very entertaining.  I love cheesy rip-offs or sequels, but this doesn't bring anything half-way interesting to the plate. 

Grade: C-