05th Sep2015

‘Invoked’ DVD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Patrick Murphy, Ciara Rose Burke, Lynn Larkin, Craig Grainger, Aaron Gibson, Christopher Daly | Written by Humberto Rosa, Aaron Gibson | Directed by Humberto Rosa, Thairon Mendes

invoked-dvd

Five friends head out to a remote island off the coast of Ireland for a holiday. The old house they re staying in gives them the creeps, and as the night draws in and they fool around with a séance, the friends soon realise they are not alone. They have invoked an evil spirit intent on terrorising and possessing them one by one.

Sometimes I find myself torn as movie reviewer. On the one hand you have to give credit to companies like Left Films (who released Invoked here in the UK) for taking chances with low-budget independent horror moviess, often releasing titles other companies wouldn’t touch with a bargepole. On the other hand, there’s a reason other companies won’t go near these movies!

Case in point: Invoked.

A found-footage movie set in Ireland, which features a group of annoying twentysomethings being genreally annoying and talking incessantly, this is less a movie and more a home video. It’s filmed with the style and panache of a four year old, the camera constantly moving, capturing feet, arms, legs and occasionally faces. Moving so much so that I was begging the filmmakers to use a steadicam at many, many points duirng the film – to the detriment of actually watching the movie!

It didn’t matter, as Invoked is yet another retread of the well-worn “kids go into the woods, kids get dead” Blair Witch formula, bringing nothing new to the table at all.Seriously, have we not moved on from that cliche yet? Found footage, as we know it, has moved on a hell of a lot since 1999 yet we’re still seeing movies like this. Even Hollywood, so often happy to rest on its laurels and regurgitate copy after copy of popular film formats, has moved on from shit like this (see Demonic for example).

Sans any legitmate scares, the only thing this film invoked was my anger…

Invoked is out now on DVD from Left Films. Buy it at your peril.

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