DARN IT!
This is so close to good that it is super disappointing that it doesn’t bring it on home. These are the movies that disappoint the most because you can see what they were trying to do and this a sincere effort to make a neat movie, unlike SO many found footage films.
While this doesn’t quite pull off what they were trying, I give them all the credit in the world for what they achieve and think it’s still a movie worth talking about and watching.
THE BARBADOS PROJECT presents itself as the ‘found’ footage of several sources, the big one being of a group of journalists investigating the strange appearances of creatures in Barbados. These appearances have been covered up by the government, despite video evidence, and the crew is trying to get to the bottom of things. What they find is that what they thought was a mere monster story is also one of a governmental cover-up that reveals a horrifying reality that is close to changing the world.
This is a very low-fi project that leans on a lot of digital effects to bring things together and it totally works. While the FX isn’t always amazing, it is done in a way that it’s shown in the dark, or through a filter, or from afar so that the illusion isn’t as easy to see through. The film relies on actors that don’t seem professional but bring their all and don’t bring the film down. The big bugaboo here is that there just isn’t a lot of story here. This is a great long/short film but not a feature and there seems like enough that could make a feature. Maybe the hope is to get enough interest to make a full feature, but that’s not this.
I love that this is a film full of people of color because it’s nice to see more people finding their voice through found footage and darn it, it’s about time we get more like this. The film is well made and the many digital effects are well done, though some seem obviously digital. The monsters are pretty neat looking and are done very well, though they are not given a lot to do. The film definitely has a DIY/amateurish quality to it, there’s no denying it, but it’s a plucky film and worth a look. I wish the ideas were better fleshed out and a little less outlandish but it’s an interesting take and a unique found footage film, for sure. At just one hour it won’t eat up too much of your time and is worth checking out.
Not top shelf but a plucky effort that is very unique and worth a look for the diehards.
2 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 