An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
No spoilers! If you would like spoilers – check out the Spoiler post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at 2002’s The Collingswood Story at the time of writing this post, The Collingswood Story can be found on Shudder
A couple in a long distance relationship, communicating through video calls, start to believe a dangerous cult may be targeting one of them after a call with a psychic.
Is it Scary?
The Collingswood Story gets pretty creepy, though that’s mainly because of the story, not the scares. The jump scares often feel cheap and forced with some not making any real sense but they don’t happen a lot so it’s not detrimental to the movie.
By the end, you’ll be creeped out and a bit scared especially if you’re planning on doing a few video calls this Halloween.
Review:
The Collingswood Story is pretty good. To be honest, I went in with low expectations since it was a found footage movie and I hate those but overall it exceeded my expectations. The acting was passable but the story and most of the dialogue made up for it.
It felt like a good old-fashioned Halloween story because it relied on the creepiness of the story it was trying to tell, instead of manufactured fake suspense where the audience is forced to stare at a kitchen for a full minute until a jump scare happens.
Related Article: Paranormal Activity (2007) No Spoiler Review
Unfortunately, it does have a few jump scares and a few don’t entirely make sense for where they happen in the movie. They have no reason to show up other than to scare the viewer and that feels completely cheap.
The movie also hints at some backstory for its characters at various points but it doesn’t do a good job at using that backstory to create motivation for the characters. In the end the attempts at backstory just feels random.
Still, those negatives are extremely small and the movie is pretty short at just 80 minutes so it’s a worthwhile movie to watch if you’re looking to get spooked. I recommend giving The Collingswood Story a watch especially if you’re looking for something quick and creepy.
Cast IMDB
Stuff to Ignore
Metacritic – No Page