The Unfolding (2016) User Reviews

Lots of FAKE reviews here

[mendzel · 5/10 · 18 May 2016]

All of these favorable reviews were posted within days of the films release (March 14th 2016) and many claim to be from England (filming location of movie) Many of these reviewers have ONLY reviewed ONE FILM! (This one) All of these reviewers gave this film AT LEAST 8 stars.

If anyone involved in the film (aka the fake reviewers) is reading this, please take note: YOU ARE RUINING IMDb! It has become a biased, fictitious ratings-land where the average consume cannot get an objective review of a film.

My suggestion: move along to a film that stands on its own merit and doesn't need to trick you into viewing.

Remember Most Haunted with Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding

[dr_phil_healey-46020 · 5/10 · 4 March 2017]

I watched this on NETFLIX last night and watched it to the end. Starts a bit like Wolf Creek with a gentle opener of a couple on Dartmoor having fun and stroking the wild ponies. In the background there is constant radio news about an impending nuclear war, a bit like 'Killing Them Softly' with Brad Pitt has President Bush talking about the 'financial crisis'. This adds to the sense of fear.

I found the nuclear bombers most disturbing.

It follows in the path of Paranormal Activity One. Gradually ramping up the suspense slowly, adding in new characters, terrifying sound effects and i was unable to have a drink for fear of chipping my teeth on the glass due to the unpredictable sudden 'jump' events.

It kept reminding me of Most Haunted with the dust flying by the cameras.

At one point early in the film it copies the sound effect from paranormal activity that i found so frightening. That deep base type growl when the demon was visiting.

The old house was a character in the film.

I loved the bit in the kitchen when Rose hears the ghost whispering in her ear and the unexplained frozen pipes and temperature changes.

For me the acting had some flaws in that you never felt they were legitimately scared. I would have run out of the house screaming if i heard someone whisper in my ear!

I hope there is more to come from the group who made this film.

I've Seen Better Tripe In A Butcher's Window

[nod64 · 3/10 · 24 August 2016]

What's unfolding is my attention with this dross.

"An exciting and relevant new take on the Haunted House story." Who said this? Was it the mother of the writer? This film is duller than a 3W bulb. Found footage certainly isn't a new take, neither are jump scares. You get a lots of stuff happening off screen, and not a lot happening on screen.

I agree with what another reviewer said. Methinks the good reviews were written by friends and family of the cast and crew.

I ended up turning it off, so no idea if there was an amazing twist, and I don't care either.

Are they sure it wasn't meant for Shitefest instead of Frightfest? Watch something else, like Housebound instead.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3504048/?ref_=nv_sr_1

If you thought Paranormal Activity was bad, you're really gonna hate this one.

[Aerosoul69 · 2/10 · 15 March 2016]

The description says "An exciting and relevant new take on the Haunted House story." This could not be further from the truth, in fact it's the exact opposite.

The Unfolding is yet another found footage film in the style of Paranormal Activity. It is bland and uninspired in every way. There is not one creative idea in this movie and even the uncreative ideas are executed poorly.

-The story is painfully ordinary: A couple investigates a haunted house. They set up cameras but everything happens off camera anyway. The 2 scenes where the entity actually appears are distorted by interference and so shaky that you won't be able to see anything. The actors often say stuff like "I saw/ I heard / I feel something" but it isn't relevant to the story anyway. It's just ghosts messing with furniture for no reason.

Oh, there is also some sort of cold war going on, nothing more about that conflict is revealed or shown in this film.

The couple then calls some professor and a medium who serve as means to deliver exposition. Yes this movie couldn't be any more cliché if it tried. Now that the medium has confirmed evil presence the plot meanders around for a while before some people die off screen.

The others try to run away but it doesn't matter anyway. We hear sirens and see multiple nukes exploding. Everyone dies. I am not kidding, that is the twist. The ending makes the entire movie utterly pointless.

Some other Cons (there are no Pros):

-The acting (and dialogue) was laughable.

-The camera-work is terrible. It switches between hand-held shaky-cam and fixed cameras placed around the house. Of course the cameras never record anything interesting (except for a shadow or self-opening doors).

-Video quality is average at best. It has almost no saturation, everything looks gray. It's a cheap way to give the movie an ominous atmosphere.

-Audio quality is switching between mediocre and horrible. It's the worst when showing footage from the fixed cameras, because it is simulating (or actually using) the camera's integrated microphone.

-Audiomastering is bad, or rather nonexistent. E.g. some dialogue was hard to understand because it was drowned out by ambient noises.

-Cheap jump scares.

-This movie has no redeeming qualities, no creativity, not a shred of dignity. There is no suspense, no horror and no mystery.

Watch this if you absolutely cannot get enough of paranormal activity style films, otherwise stay the hell away!

No redeeming features

[roboteach · 1/10 · 4 June 2016]

Whatever deep meaning there was supposed to be within this film it passed me by completely. Lots of sudden loud noise shocks, ludicrous decisions and poor acting as is often the case in this type of film. I am occasionally pleasantly surprised by poorly rated films but not in this case. More than one star is generous. The science quoted is garbage, the behaviour nonsensical and the psychic, as well as the "effects", straight out of one of those awful TV shows like "Ghost-hunters".

I wouldn't even consider it worthy as an "Ironing" film. It's like a low budget "Paranormal activity" and even though more happens in this film I found it to be similarly pointless. If you are looking to waste the odd 90 minutes of your life then go ahead with this trash. If not look elsewhere.

Good for a student project, maybe.

[johndu-78390 · 2/10 · 25 September 2017]

But a film masquerading as horror on Netflix? That I pay for? It's almost as though students had been tasked to work out how horror films makers perform jump scares and other clichés.

Really poor, predictable, terrible acting, the lead character (male) one of the most unlikeable characters I've come across since James Corden.

Absolutely nothing of any merit to write about and certainly nothing original other than the nuclear war theme which doesn't really have a huge bearing on the film as a whole.

How this made its way onto Netflix is beyond me.

This film has the feel of a C+ High School project, but the acting is worse!

[mr-roboto-kilroy · 1/10 · 15 March 2016]

This sucked so loud that it was deafening! The filming was a cross between "Blair Witch Project 2" and a high school a/v class project. I doubt that their budget was over $1000. Just because it is a low budget amateurish film, doesn't mean that it had to be so bad. Cliché plot and substandard acting (if you can call it that). It starts off slow with poor attempt at character building, then gets even slower. It does have a couple of 'that might be scary in real life, but not on a screen'moments. The end was predicable and disappointing. If I had of paid to see it, I would have asked for my money back within the first 15 minutes. Don't waste your time on this. Even if you download it, it wouldn't be worth your bandwidth. The worst horror film that I've ever seen.

found footage garbage,

[r_goodwin · 2/10 · 23 August 2016]

FAKE reviews here by the busload.However it really is easy to spot them!!! If you see a several reviews which rate a movie highly then you also see a review which rates very low,its obvious that the LOW review would be the genuine one!!! There wouldn't be any point in voting a decent film with low score.No point.even for the trolls. This movie could have been made for peanuts by a bunch of children with a mobile phone.....yes really. The story line is non existent.The editing and cohesion of story is quite pathetic. No horror/acting/effects/scares/twists/ Its a classic found footage bunch of flashing lights/blurry images and stupid dialogue for stupid people.NO SPOILERS NO POINT...TRUST ME.

Fair dose of creepy.

[poustinik · 7/10 · 10 September 2016]

Another low-budget found-footage haunted-house movie of the familiar type, with shades of understated British quirkiness that recall some of the Brit horror films of the '80s. A student of paranormal research and his girlfriend are on a road trip to find a haunted house for him to study. Well, this is Britain and Dartmoor to boot, so it's no surprise that they come upon a choice example. But when the weird-o-meter starts rising into the red zone, they call in a professor and a medium for damage control help, and all playing out against the backdrop of an "unfolding" world nuclear crisis. What's the point of the nuclear crisis when a spirit or spirits are on the prowl? Here is the '80s throwback concept: More of scary! Just add nuclear crisis to any situation for instant tension! My wife and I have watched probably a couple of thousand horror flicks between us since the '60s, and we've seen far worse films, many of them made by more famous names on much bigger budgets. Despite the rants of the ever-increasing "It-sux-dude" tribe in these parts lately, we give it a pair of likes.

Dire. A waste of time.

[ichihatsugaia · 2/10 · 16 June 2017]

I had such high hopes for this film.Potentially something fresh and stand out amidst the mediocre horror on offer on netflix. The idea of a supernatural thriller set against a back drop of impending nuclear war.

I honestly had no idea there was a nuclear war going on but for cursory worried mutterings and snatches of television and radio doomsaying. Soon the hope of seeing something fresh and exciting was dashed when an all too familiar line up of stock characters and clichés appeared in the middle aged psychic, cooky professor, empathetic female lead and to be honest boring and watered down male lead. As the film reached its climax, the inevitable nuclear war, I was hoping for a twist that would have validated the 1hr 30 mins i'd wasted on this film but no. Just bland SFX and no real explanation. Don't bother with this one.

Interesting movie in several levels

[envoyez-sol · 8/10 · 24 April 2022]

I felt this was remarkable movie . Instead of linear horror trope several intersecting threads emerge. The girl who wanted to leave wants to stay . The guy who was keen on arriving now wants to leave. The horror of the past collided with the horror of the future . The faceless spirit realm merges with personal Human realm which merges with the impersonal technocratic realm . The horror of instantaneous nuclear annhilation contrasted with the never ending horror of long dead abused souls. The grayness of life contrasted to the color of the singularity and infinity combined .

I recommend this movie . It is a study of personal and technocratic horror .

Decent enough but gets in its own way.

[j-nickturner · 6/10 · 6 April 2020]

(I will give a spoiler warning before giving anything away.)

TL;DR: Above average, worth a watch, but doesn't follow the rules.

This could have been really good! I love found footage, but the usual sins of FF hold this back from being truly great. To all the makers of found footage:

STOP ADDING SOUNDTRACK MUSIC STOP USING CHEAP JUMP SCARES STOP INCREASING VOLUME DURING JUMP SCARES

These things piss me off to no end when directors add the above to FF projects.

This had a really cool premise with likable characters and an interesting story. It is fairly typical for a ghost story, but the way the story is told is engaging and fairly unique. The pacing is perfect! The Unfolding is a fitting title for sure. Things ramp up in ways that keep you interested and build tension. The visuals aren't over the top and manage to be truly creepy. The movie feels very grounded or, at least, as grounded as a ghost story can be. But there are some pretty glaring issues that really drag it down.

Unfortunately, the added soundtrack music, the constant jump scares (with a near doubling in volume), and a few things I will get to later, totally pull you out of the experience. These elements have no business in a found footage movie. They are distracting and annoying. The scares could have been much more effective without all that crap. Jump scares can be done well, but in the case of The Unfolding, all they do is make you cover you ears or constantly adjust the volume to avoid blowing out your speakers. It becomes grating very quickly.

The Unfolding is better than most FF. It just kind of tries to do too much and gets in its own way. However, if you like FF, its worth a watch. Just keep in mind that if you are picky about the rules in your FF movies, this one might piss you off. Especially the ending.

******* SPOILER WARNING!!! (I'm going to give away the end now...) *********

So part of the plot of this movie is that the world is on the brink of nuclear war. It kind of adds more tension and gives the characters more to worry about than just the spirits in the house. I was on board with this plot point until the very end of the movie where (SPOILERS)...

Bombs go off all over the place... Now I wouldn't have a problem with that if this were a traditionally filmed movie, BUT this is found footage... SO WHERE THE HECK DID THE FOOTAGE COME FROM IF EVERYTHING GOT BLOWN UP?!?! I know, I know, it isn't real. It's just a story. But why would you make a movie in the style of found footage if you aren't going to stick to the rules?!

I guess maybe I'm just too picky when it comes to these kind of things, but I doubt I'm the only one. I think most die-hard FF fans are really bothered by these kind of things.

Far From the Worst...

[tmccull52 · 5/10 · 29 August 2020]

Despite some of the negative reviews that I've read here, this is far from the worst haunted house/horror movie that I've ever seen.

I watched this on Amazon Prime, and "The Unfolding" is one of the better offerings from their selection of horror movies. You want mind-numbingly bad? Try "Midnight Macabre", "White Fangs", "Bride of the Werewolf", or "Dark Attachment". Those movies will make you want to beat yourself about the head with a ballpeen hammer for having watched them. "Dark Attachment" is especially terrible.

For the most part, the problem with "The Unfolding" is that you can watch pretty much any episode of "Ghost Hunters", "Ghost Adventures", or anything of the like and see the scares featured in this movie. Is it a classic like 1963's "The Haunting"? No. There are much, much worse offerings in the genre out there.

The one thing that did annoy the Hell out of me was the incessant background screeching about imminent nuclear war on the radio and television broadcasts in the movie.

Murky Horror

[Pairic · 5/10 · 9 January 2021]

The Unfolding: Found footage film set to the background of an impending nuclear conflict. A coupe travel to an isolated house on Dartmoor to explore paranormal phenomena, they are greeted by ponies and climb a Tor where they may have spotted something odd. Over the course of a few days they are joined by other investigators and a medium. Poltergeist effects, crying babies, attacks by ghosts do provide a few scares. There is a malevolent ghost present who confronts them. Rather dark shots in black & white and washed out colors add to the gloomy atmosphere and the tension is racked up by news reports about developing hostilities. All a bit murky in more ways than one as the parts don't gel together too well. Just about watchable. Written and Directed by Eugene McGing. On the Horror Channel. 5/10.

What's the point of ratings if they are all fake?

[orionhi · 1/10 · 30 September 2021]

I really can't see a reasonable horror fan giving this a positive rating. Everything from the acting to story to special effects are absolutely awful. Giving a film false ratings because you're somehow involved with the film or know someone involved doesn't help you. People will see this garbage and tell others and regardless of your fake rating the film will still be known as garbage AND liars and cheats. If you want good ratings make a good movie. Don't compound the problem by being liar and cheats too.

I wanted the end to come

[zombie-32 · 1/10 · 16 December 2016]

On the safe side I have added the spoiler tag. But if you have already seen this film then you already know it has passed it's use by date and has spoiled. This is the film version of that bottle of milk that became lost in the car in early spring only to be found in late summer then for some unholy reason opened to "see how bad it really is"

It is interesting that so many of the 8+ star reviews have reviewed only this movie.

This is a low budget film but being one should not stop it from being a well made film as many iconic or cult films have been made on a shoestring budget or even less. This film is neither iconic or a cult film

Ignoring that lets explore this train wreck of a movie

Setting: The movie is set in contemporary rural England and from the radio we know that there is a heavy cold war on that is looking to go hot.

The problem with this "found footage" genre is that unless it is very well written you know that the main character are dead. There is no explanation over how the footage is found. This is not a well written script.

Characters: Overall they are like extras with likes of dialogue. Anonymous, bland, not memorable. I do not even have a reason to dislike them which would have given me a reason to remember them.

Dialogue: Of what could be heard of this was in the finer moments bad but most of the time it settles for bland to bad

Audio: Highly inconsistent varying from easily heard to a background mumble in most cases this actually improved the film as this means one did not have to suffer the dialogue

Acting: This movie is far from alone where you see actors struggling to spin gold out of chaff. a average scrip would have gotten a better performance.

Script/Story: Aside from some random good ideas the script and story is bland and pedestrian and are interchangeable with any number of similarly bland "found footage film". The troupes in the characters and story are both common and predictable with the exception of one character I was able to predict every character's demise

Locations: The locations were solid and well chosen and suited the story well

Special effects: Of what you could see this was fairly basic and having the video footage bleed of colours looks and feels like this was done to cover the poor/cheap effects. I would say that it looks like the special effects were done on a home computer but I have seen movies where the director used his home computer the make the computer effects and despite it was made several years ago it still looks better then the effects in this film

Overall: A generally bland, forgettable film. It is not bad enough to get a following from us that like the bad movie and is certainly not good enough to be popular.

Watch at own risk

One star as zero is not possible

[weirdweld · 1/10 · 6 April 2018]

I am writing this because I was reminded of the film when asked by a meme sharer on Facebook what is the worst movie you've ever seen? I'm guessing that sums it up really, thanks Netflix Maybe not the worst ever but it popped into my mind, unwelcomed from around a year ago & I can't beat it for now. Does this review contain spoilers? Fairly sure there is nothing to make the experience worse so no. If you like low budget " arty" shots you'd still be better off navigating instagram randomly. Obviously this is my opinion but it seems others share it so view at your own risk.

Another day, another Paranormal Activity clone

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 29 August 2016]

Another day, another found footage movie; THE UNFOLDING shows promise in the early scenes of a couple driving through a dismal Dartmoor, but before long this turns into another PARANORMAL ACTIVITY copy that offers only a modicum of interest over the drawn-out running time.

The story is about a couple of researchers who conduct an investigation at a reportedly haunted house. The viewer watches via hand camera footage and latterly CCTV material. The problems with the film are too numerous to mention, although it's worth nothing that the young leads are saddled with the most boring characters ever and the film has some ludicrous plot developments, particularly that ridiculous ending.

It's low budget throughout and sometimes painfully so. I hate that greyed out look to these films which gives them a dull and uniform appearance, a modern cliché of horror films. The only interest comes from seeing a couple of veteran British character actors in support, Robert Daws and Kitty McGeever. The rest of the film is composed of loud jump scares and not a lot else.

British found footage horror done right, would you believe it?

[Oli_palmer23 · 7/10 · 10 March 2018]

At first glance, a film titled THE UNFOLDING might suggest some kind of laundry advertisement rather than a haunted house themed horror film. But suspect title aside, this is actually a very welcome effort from writer/producer/director Eugene McGing who has managed to craft a film that could very well be considered the not so distant British cousin to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Of course, the impact that this statement will have on the potential viewer will depend largely on whether or not they were a fan of the first PARANORMAL ACTIVITY film.

Tam (Nieboer) and his girlfriend Rose (Kerr) are off to Dartmoor to stay in a centuries old house where Tam hopes to obtain evidence of paranormal goings-on. Meanwhile the world stands on the brink of nuclear war, as radio transmissions continue to discuss an impending catastrophic event. Eventually the couple realise there may well be more going on here than just a few bumps in the night so they call in the help of Tam's professor (Daws) and a medium (McGeever) in the hopes of tackling a potential evil that appears to have taken a focus towards Rose.

Horror films, and particularly haunted house films, tend to get a bad rep these days for falling into instances of cliché. These clichés may well include loud bangs on the walls, stuff going on in the basement, people feeling 'a presence', and in this day and age of the handheld found-footage style, let's not forget the camera getting knocked over or the quality crackling when something's amiss. While it cannot be denied THE UNFOLDING has all these elements in its story, it's the way it presents itself that gives the clichés a sense of freshness. You may have seen most of these things before, but they will not have been used as effectively as they are here.

In some ways the small budget actually works as a blessing in disguise. McGinn and co. make the best of what they have to work with, and in doing so they add an extra sense of familiarity to proceedings. This really does look like someone's home video rather than the staged antics of some other found footage efforts. It makes the events just that little bit more unsettling.

There is jump scares of course, but there's also a sense that the film is allowed to develop at a good pace which allows the suspense to build naturally. The consistent radio transmissions warning of an impending nuclear strike is a really nice touch, it ramps up the tension and ensures the sense that nowhere is safe. As one character keenly puts it: "with everything going on in the world, this house is probably the safest place to be". Oh Christ.

There is a real commitment from the actors here, which really heightens the sense of dread when the proverbial starts hitting the fan. Lisa Kerr in particular plays Rose with just the right amount of vulnerability that ensures she doesn't border into helplessness. Similarly Lachlan Nieboer is engaging and committed in his role, even if the script dictates he is sidelined during some of the film's juiciest moments. The only distraction is Nick Julian's role of Harvey. He shows up unannounced without much motive and just seems a bit shoehorned into the plot, not really serving much purpose. It would seem it could have been more effective to have not had the character at all, thus elevating the vulnerabilities of the two central characters.

THE UNFOLDING does not break new ground in found-footage horror, but what it does have is a very committed cast, a very confident director in McGing and some very nice subtle touches that really elevate the tension of the spooky goings-on, and sometimes that's all you need.

Hopeless

[davehaydock · 2/10 · 25 February 2019]

Shaking camera can't see anything... supposed to be like that...but just couldn't keep me interested..kept waiting for something to happen..it never did

Brilliant

[doncos-66878 · 10/10 · 5 February 2021]

I don't understand the negativity here, it's a movie guy's, I loved it, Tam is supposed to be annoying and he pulls it off, thought Lisa kerr was perfect for the role, showing vulnerability at key points. I thought the film needed The professor and the clairvoyant the late Kitty Mcgreevy, I've watched it a couple of times, I will probably watch it again. Well done, Loved it all

Unnerving yet flawed British haunting

[pointlessseason · 7/10 · 17 January 2019]

I find this a rare example of found footage done... okay. I say okay, as it suffers the same question of who edited it, or even found the footage.

The isolated backdrop with an increasing cast of characters builds tension to a point of claustrophobia, yet it's the outside world which unnerves you more. The double threat of hauntings and an increasingly heated Cold War leave you breathless at each uncomfortable silence. For once, poor quality footage actually adds to the fear, with over exposed skies leading to a few "what if?" takeouts. To some extent, I commend the acting of the two leads, which is uniquely British and, at least at the beginning, believable. This, however is where my compliments to the film end.

The main problem with the film is the ending, yes, the characters make increasingly stupid decisions, but as the film progresses, that comes with the territory. The main issue is that they wrote themselves into a corner, so much so it could only really end two ways; They did both. Chekhov's gun makes the nuclear strike an inevitably, yet by doing so, it renders the haunting redundant. By doing both, it does not fully explore either, the experts keep suggesting that the nuclear tensions may have caused the spike in activity. Had the haunting become increasingly more active before abruptly stopping moments before the attack, the ending would be much more shocking. Alternatively, had a broadcast explained new talks were rolling back the doomsday clock, then a sudden, bloody ghost interaction would challenge their entire justification of the hauntings. Both of these would provide, at least, a more nuanced, and less sloppy final act.

Irrespective of the flaws, it is still one of the more captivating Paranormal Activity-esque films in recent years. The British cast and locations really help in making the clichés seem less so, and the jumpscares are at a minimum, making your mind do the work. Would very much recommend for a fan of the genre, there is little new, but what there is, is believable.

Sharp and to the point

[micksalt · 1/10 · 19 January 2019]

Short sharp and straight to the point Tried to watch this film with my wife but we gave up after 20 minutes because its a load of rubbish.

biggest pile of turd I've wasted time on

[suntigerbite · 1/10 · 3 March 2017]

not much more to say. bad bad bad. you should be ashamed to be in it. poor. should be banned not because its good. I have seen other films that are as bad as this, but this review is not about them.

awww naw. save 1.30 hrs of your life doing something constructive, like learning about light speed or nuclear physics or picking your nose, avoid.

Cheap, very cheap

[jonasatmosfera · 1/10 · 28 June 2021]

Nothing new here.

This has become too common: a bunch of friends gather their pocket money, loose change lost in their couches, collect the.money form a few beer bottles and soda cans...and decide to make a movie.

Well, I have nothing against it, but usually the end product of these weekend projects is pretty bad.

What unfolded in "Unfolding" is that after 10 minutes watching it I was in a deep coma.

This is one of these movies that is good only for the families and friends of the people involved with the making of this " materpiece"