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by Scott Wampler Posted:September 1st, 2010 at 6:59 pm
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When a film gets called “the best Alfred Hitchcock film that Alfred Hitchcock never made” in its trailer, it has a lot to live up to. And– watching the trailer– it’s clear that Catfish definitely has the potential to be one darkly entertaining documentary: Here’s Nev, just another loveless New Yorker who’s met a girl online. After nearly a year composed of 1500 texts, emails, letters, and phone calls, Nev decides that he’s going to make the leap: Nev will travel– unannounced– to his Facebook girlfriend’s home to meet her. What happens next? I won’t tell you in the review that follows, but I’ll sure as hell try and convince you to see the movie. Keep on reading for my Catfish review, after the jump.
Catfish is, without a doubt, the scariest film that I’ve seen in theaters in the past year. There are people that will take issue with this statement, and there are sure to be– as there was at the Q&A following the AICN-organized screening of Catfish here in Austin last night– people that take issue with the film’s trailer, which seems to be selling a horror documentary. Still others will take issue with the ever-popular “Is it real, or is it fake?” debate, while others will claim that some of the people seen during its 100m runtime have been exploited. To all of these charges, I say: poppycock.
Just because a film doesn’t feature buckets of blood doesn’t mean it’s not tense, or frightening, or that people aren’t being gutted. Just because the trailers trade on the trappings of the thriller genre doesn’t mean that Catfish is any less thrilling or tension-filled (almost unbearably so in some moments) to sit through. And lemme tell ya: it’s not “FAKE1!!!!!1″, and it’s not a mockumentary. Catfish is the real deal, and anyone that tells you otherwise clearly hasn’t seen the film in its entirety yet. I’m warning you now: stay far away from those that would seek to spoil this film for you, and ignore the claims that it isn’t real.
As for the charges that anyone’s been exploited, well, I can see both sides of that coin. Obviously, because I’ve made the decision not to spoil anything about the film in this review, it’s going to be difficult– nevermind, it’s impossible– to explain why no one’s been exploited, at least not in my opinion…but I’m perfectly capable of understanding why some others might feel that way. The only way to find out what side of the argument you fall on is to actually see the film, and there’s no doubt that you should make arrangements to do so. Catfish has the potential to be one of the biggest movies of the year if Rogue Pictures handles the marketing in the right way, rolls it out in the correct (read: Paranormal Activity) manner. Everyone’s got a Facebook account, after all, and the mystery at the heart of Catfish will do for Facebook what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean.
This is the sort of film that you see, and then you immediately want others to see so that you can discuss it with them over a few pitchers (and perhaps a fistfight, if they decide to view the film differently than you did). It’s a shame that I remain unclear on when Catfish may be arriving in theaters, but if Rogue continues these advanced screenings and just gets 100 more people like me on their side, they’ll have every damn person in the country aware of the film by the end of this month: since seeing the film last night, I haven’t stopped considering it, wondering about certain scenes, or shooting out texts and emails to friends (ironic, all things considered) to see it at their earliest convenience. Having seen the film, now I want to see it succeed.
There’s bound to be a whole bunch of arguing about this film online, which is a shame, because we all know how that’ll progress: people could get more caught up in arguing about whether or not the film’s real than whether it’s any good, and it most certainly is. The film’s a joint-project from Nev Schulman, Henry Joost, and Ariel Schulman, and these three guys– not even attempting to make a movie along the way– have created more atmosphere, dread, tension, and flat-out stomach-churning fear in some of the moments they caught with their cameras than some horror-film directors capture during their entire careers. Last weekend, I let The Last Exorcism have its way with me. That film wasn’t a fraction as scary, effective, or thought-provoking as Catfish, even though it so obviously wanted to be.
The film’s three directors– though, to be clear, only Ariel and Henry are listed as the film’s actual directors on IMDB– all appear in the film, and all are uniformally interesting to watch. After the movie ended, there was a Q&A led by Harry Knowles, where the three of them let us in on a few things that happened after the credits rolled. Ariel promised that many of these moments (short of the story involving Brett Ratner’s bedroom, two Playboy bunnies, and his incredible DVR) will appear as “Special Features” on the upcoming DVD, and I simply cannot wait to see some of these moments. The story of Catfish is a shocking one, and one that’ll leave you with more than a couple unanswered questions. But according to all involved, we’ll get a few more answers– things left out of the film in consideration of the running time, it would seem– when the DVD arrives. This is further good news.
It’s really difficult to say much more about the film without spoiling anything, and I’m not about to be the douchebag that spoils this movie for anyone. All you really need to know about Catfish heading into the film is this: A) it’s scary, and you’re likely to be on the edge of your seat during its second half; B) it’s real, and anyone that tells you it isn’t needs a swift and merciless beating; and C) it shouldn’t be spoiled for anyone, and anyone that you meet that might be giving out clues or plot points to people who haven’t seen the film should be immediately beaten, as well. Just head into Catfish knowing that you’re about to see one of the most effective, amazing, terrifying documentaries you’re ever likely to see, and you’ll do just fine.
Scott Wampler is a film critic, entertainment blogger, standup comic, and man of constant sorrow from Austin, TX. You can read a bunch of his scribblings HERE, or you can stay tuned to Collider.com, where he provides a series of film reviews when the planets are correctly aligned.
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Related Links
- CATFISH DVD Review
- Trailer for Mysterious Sundance Documentary CATFISH; Plus First Images and Poster
- PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman Return to Helm PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4
- New Trailer for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3; Cities Can Tweet to See the Film Before it Opens
- First Trailer for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
I wouldn’t say it’s scary at all… it’s certainly exciting, you get a feeling of anticipation welling up inside of you, but there’s never any sense of dread or fear, I have a perfect analogy for it but even that would probably spoil some parts. I would also like to say that there are probably a lot of folks reading this that wouldn’t be surprised by what happens for certain reasons, but again, I can’t reference what or why without stepping into spoiler territory (how I wish Collider had spoiler tags!). That’s kinda what pisses me off about this film… the super-duper secrecy the movie commands due to putting all its weight on a “surprise” is sort of a put-on; reviewers can have their fun with the vagueness and call it things like “the scariest movie you’ll see this year”, and people looking for more details are more or less just told to go see it and find out… but what if they don’t like it? That would be the ultimate sucker punch. Is it faked at parts? I doubt it, I would say though that it carries a serious sense of “awareness”; it seems pretty obvious from the get-go that we’re not watching some home movies that turn into an amazing adventure. They clearly set out to make something from the beginning, that doesn’t mean they realized that what happened would actually happen, but you can notice that their motives in some spots are driven more by making an exciting movie than the standard course of action, and later on I have a hard time seeing how they still hadn’t put two and two together, unless they were feigning ignorance to make the reactions more exciting.
If you’re caught between the vague hyperbole of the reviews and the nitpicky criticism in discussions I would suggest renting it.
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So is it about some dude who thinks hes gonna meet a hot girl and it turns out to be a hairy italian or somethin??> *yawn*
This movie is the most disappointing movie of the year. Real or not, it sets you up for a great third act and then fizzles out in the lamest way possible.
““the best Alfred Hitchcock film that Alfred Hitchcock never made”? That’s an incredible stretch…”Catfish is, without a doubt, the scariest film that I’ve seen in theaters in the past year”…..not by a long shot.
This is not a horror movie, it is a drama. They are marketing this thing all wrong. At least Paranormal Activity, which I didn’t like, was sold right, this one is lying to you. Don’t waste your time on it, it all adds up to nothing.
Great competition about new film, Catfish! http://bit.ly/awCBrj
Great competition about new film, Catfish! http://bit.ly/awCBrj
…I can wait to see “Catfish”!!!
Whether or not its scary (FOR ME) is besides the point. I think it speaks to the ways in which social media can me manipulated and how people pretend to something thy aren’t. I enjoyed your take on the film Joe, thanks! Living in Toronto and with #TIFF starting today, word is that it is generating more buzz than some of the films at the festival! For those who have yet to watch the trailer… find out why – http://www.catfishmovie.ca
I think you’ve been duped pretty hard. People under 40 that are shocked or scared by this movie should just unplug their computer and hide out in their parents basement because they are not going to survive in modern day life. Google, a name many of us know and trust, is far scarier than a lonely person on the internet.
I think it’s more about being aware of what we’re sharing rather than being scared LA Snark. The underlying message is simply one of asking people to rethink the way they engage with social networking. Pretty straightforward if you ask me. http://bit.ly/b4vCGa
What person in this day and age is not aware of what they’re sharing online? Maybe a lot of us are too smart for this movie.
Some people are naive dude…..when you’re aware of something doesn’t mean that someone else is aware of the same thing. For every 9 people that have their eyes open, there is 1 person who has their eyes closed. Do you think everything that people share online is real?
Make sure you go and demand Catfish, the hit Sundance documentary in your city. It’s one movie you do not want to miss! http://bit.ly/9V2vk1
This is a powerfully disturbing movie because it speaks to literally every element of the human condition. “Scary” is certainly a fair word for it. I think your review excellent. Thanks for writing it.
There are three words that describe this film:Shite! Shite! Shite!
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