Review: '?' (Question mark)

Film: ? (Question mark)
Footage found by: Yash Dave, Allison Patel
Rating: ***

This film has no name. It’s merely called ?. It ends as abruptly as it begins.

Seven final year students are driving to an unrevealed place to shoot a film, as part of their college project. The bungalow they are going to is Vickey Chatwal’s uncle’s. He is the director of the film and one of three girls, Manvi, the co-director.

The film opens with a wide angle shot of a beautiful valley. The Director of Photography, DOP, Varun introduces the audience to the setting, the friends and makes a promise of always keeping his camera on, come what may. On their way to the bungalow, the friends joke, worry about their future and joke a little more. We meet Kiran, the lead actress; CJ the lead actor; Simran the supporting actress and Akki, the clown of the group with no real role.

Footage finders insert a disclaimer in the beginning saying it’s the reprocessed version that we’re watching.

After two days on arrival at the bungalow, strange happenings disturb the jolly lot. Casting aside doubts of a supernatural being into play, the group decides to wrap up their shoot and leave the place. But the being wants otherwise and most of us can guess what happens. The audience is naturally watching more than the people in the footage.

Every move and sound is captured by a hand-held and sometimes still camera. ? is effortlessly scary most of the times. It does not resort to cheap sound effects typical to most horror movies. In the league of the Paranormal Activity movies in style and content, ? has a queasy uncertainty about it, predictable in this genre, yet unpredictable in effect.

However, the ‘footage finders’ give in to horror genre clichés of a long drive to an empty bungalow, surrounding forest, ghost stories over a bon fire, drunken night, and finally a curly-haired female being possessed. ? has a lot in common with Hollywood’s Blair Witch Project, protagonists speaking into the camera, shaky movements, the setting.

No goodbyes, no credits, only the camera lives.

Go catch this footage if you’re a fan of the ‘found footage’ genre.