Director: Chris Sparling
MPAA Rating: NR
So 2015 is here, and, although we may be entering a new year, some of the more tired trends from 2014 are still lingering around, like that kid on the playground who was still playing with Pogs way after everyone else.
The specific trends I’m talking about today are found-footage and possession films, both of which The Atticus Institute is guilty. Although this mockumentary is technically proficient, capturing the look and feel of an actual doc, the overall experience is fairly drab and forgettable with the exception a few entertaining moments.
The most unfortunate thing about this movie is that the plot is actually pretty interesting, but the delivery mechanism dumbs it down to a fake talking head documentary, sucking most of the life out of it. The story revolves around a doctor by the name of Henry West who opens a lab in Pennsylvania to study individuals with psychic abilities.
While most of his subjects turn out to be frauds, one woman named Judith (Rya Kihlstedt) defies all expectations by showing off some incredible power. She has telekinesis, pyrokinesis and just about every other –kinesis one can think of. All this power obviously concerns the doctors at the lab, so they bring in the U.S. government, obviously wanting to use Judith’s abilities as a weapon, which obviously goes wrong.
While the interviews all take place today, the bulk of the footage shown is from the mid-seventies, so much of the film carries a grainy super-8 visual style that mostly succeeds at appearing as if it’s a product of the era.
Between the fake interviews with family members, friends and co-workers, the plot lurches forward by showing various tests with Judith, each more complex and intrusive than the last. With each experiment, her behavior becomes more erratic and unpredictable, and before long we realize there’s something supernatural occurring.
Nothing about The Atticus Institute is inherently bad, there’s just nothing here that we haven’t seen many times before. Everything that happens can be predicted well before even the slightest of clues, rendering even the most “scary” moments underwhelming.
Like many other films of this ilk, there is never a point where one is able to suspend his disbelief and imagine that this is an actual documentary. The dialogue, while not entirely horrible, never feels completely natural and unscripted. Prominent character actor William Mapother plays Dr. West, and while he did a fine job (as he always does), the fact that he was a recognizable face made the proceedings even harder to accept as being an actual documentary.
The Atticus Institute plays around with some interesting ideas, but ultimately falls for the same tropes we’ve seen time and time again with these found footage and possession films. The result is just another lackluster and forgettable horror film that does little to entertain or elevate the genre.
