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So, apparently, the Marble Hornets movie (based on the web series, but with a separate, stand-alone story) has been available for the past couple of months already, and I somehow had no idea until now.
I haven't watched it yet (about to do that in a bit, and will probably update this post when I'm done), so all I really know about it going in is that it has Doug Jones as theSlender ManOperator. The only other thing I have seen with Doug Jones in it was Sockbaby 4. I make that statement apropos of nothing, really, as far as Marble Hornets is concerned at least, but just to plug Sockbaby again.
(EDIT)
Okay, I've seen the movie now. And... ...it was okay, I guess. It wasn't any better or any worse than any other Slender Man vlog I've seen on Youtube. And that was probably its biggest failing. It just didn't have a "This is a feature film, better than typical Youtube fare" vibe to it. I'm not sure if that's saying that the stuff you can watch for free on Youtube is as good as a feature film, or if that's saying that this feature film was "only" as good as stuff on Youtube. Probably a little of both, since I think the stuff on Youtube and elsewhere, like the original Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, TribeTwelve, DarkHarvest00, and MLAndersen0, is all pretty good to start with. The film is as good as those, at least, in a self-contained one hour and thirty minute capsule. And, to be entirely fair, I also much preferred the more amateur-ish original The Blair Witch Project to the much slicker, Hollywood-ized Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, so I guess I'd have probably disliked this movie here a lot more if it had been a bigger, more flashy production, so make of that what you will. Always Watching was at least as good as the original Blair Witch movie, I'll give it that.
The low points for me, mainly, were that, in a departure from most other Slender Man-related things like this, the three main characters were all unlikeable assholes from the start, before the whole Slender Man stuff kicked into full gear. Marty (the dog) was probably my favorite character. After the Slender Man stuff started in earnest, then they just became your typical, average, run-of-the-mill Slender Man vlog protagonists. Guys and girls going around with cameras filming everything and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. And then there was a bit of Blair Witch "the shit hits the fan now" stuff at the end, which was pretty cool, but beyond that it was mostly just standard Slender Man Youtube video-esque goings on. If you like that sort of thing, as I do, then you'll probably find it to be decent, but nothing superior. If you don't, then you won't like this either. Lastly, they could have gotten just about anyone to play the Operator himself, based on what you see of him in this movie, so the fact that it was Doug Jones didn't really mean much of anything for me.
High points for me: The bit where the random cashier in the convenience store asked Milo "You making some sort of Youtube video or something?" got an actual, legit LOL from me. Also, the missing persons poster for Alex Kralie when they stopped at a random gas station was a nice touch. And I like that they actually asked the "Hey, why don't we just turn off the cameras?" question. (Answer: It doesn't help. It really doesn't help.)
So, yeah, again, I thought it was okay, for what it was. YMMV.
(/EDIT)
I haven't watched it yet (about to do that in a bit, and will probably update this post when I'm done), so all I really know about it going in is that it has Doug Jones as the
(EDIT)
Okay, I've seen the movie now. And... ...it was okay, I guess. It wasn't any better or any worse than any other Slender Man vlog I've seen on Youtube. And that was probably its biggest failing. It just didn't have a "This is a feature film, better than typical Youtube fare" vibe to it. I'm not sure if that's saying that the stuff you can watch for free on Youtube is as good as a feature film, or if that's saying that this feature film was "only" as good as stuff on Youtube. Probably a little of both, since I think the stuff on Youtube and elsewhere, like the original Marble Hornets, EverymanHYBRID, TribeTwelve, DarkHarvest00, and MLAndersen0, is all pretty good to start with. The film is as good as those, at least, in a self-contained one hour and thirty minute capsule. And, to be entirely fair, I also much preferred the more amateur-ish original The Blair Witch Project to the much slicker, Hollywood-ized Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, so I guess I'd have probably disliked this movie here a lot more if it had been a bigger, more flashy production, so make of that what you will. Always Watching was at least as good as the original Blair Witch movie, I'll give it that.
The low points for me, mainly, were that, in a departure from most other Slender Man-related things like this, the three main characters were all unlikeable assholes from the start, before the whole Slender Man stuff kicked into full gear. Marty (the dog) was probably my favorite character. After the Slender Man stuff started in earnest, then they just became your typical, average, run-of-the-mill Slender Man vlog protagonists. Guys and girls going around with cameras filming everything and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. And then there was a bit of Blair Witch "the shit hits the fan now" stuff at the end, which was pretty cool, but beyond that it was mostly just standard Slender Man Youtube video-esque goings on. If you like that sort of thing, as I do, then you'll probably find it to be decent, but nothing superior. If you don't, then you won't like this either. Lastly, they could have gotten just about anyone to play the Operator himself, based on what you see of him in this movie, so the fact that it was Doug Jones didn't really mean much of anything for me.
High points for me: The bit where the random cashier in the convenience store asked Milo "You making some sort of Youtube video or something?" got an actual, legit LOL from me. Also, the missing persons poster for Alex Kralie when they stopped at a random gas station was a nice touch. And I like that they actually asked the "Hey, why don't we just turn off the cameras?" question. (Answer: It doesn't help. It really doesn't help.)
So, yeah, again, I thought it was okay, for what it was. YMMV.
(/EDIT)
