Cold Ground

2017 | Found Footage

“Cold Ground” follows the found footage formula that “The Blair Witch Project” establishes very closely. Like most, of not all, of the post “The Blair Witch Project” found footage film set in the woods, the night is when shit is going down while the day is the safe space. Quite a bit of shaky cam, but I like the artificial grain.

Through it’s setting in snowy and cold mountains, the film is reminiscent of Renny Harlin’s “Devil’s Pass” aka “The Dyatlov Pass Incident” and in terms of story, the film have some others similarities. But this one is better than Harlin’s film since the finale is as bonkers. It’s also channeling all the Chupacabra cattle mutilation nonsense.

The characters are quite likable and there is no tension in the group which is unusual but welcome and there is some great gore. It’s not the violence itself that we see, but the aftermath. There is a great kind of mass grave and one guy whose face has been skinned who comes back to life and shrieks. The practical effects look great too.

The creatures are a mixed bag. The CGI isn’t that good, but there are some practical creature effects, aka people in suits, and those look fine. But they aren’t really scary or anything and sometimes made me chuckle.

While there are a few moments that are a bit tense, the film has too many stretches of nothingness and feels longer than it is. And since it follows the formula so closely, plot point are fairly predictable. If you’ve seen a couple of found footage film like this one, you’ll know every scare and how they’ll execute it. It’s like ‘oh, she’s facing the camera, that means something is gonna sneak up on her out of the darkness on her left’.

“Cold Ground” is a solid found footage film. Nothing special and the execution could have been better in many places, but it’s well done enough to be better than some similar flicks. It barely manages to get 3 generous stars.

2017 | Found Footage

“Cold Ground” follows the found footage formula that “The Blair Witch Project” establishes very closely. Like most, of not all, of the post “The Blair Witch Project” found footage film set in the woods, the night is when shit is going down while the day is the safe space. Quite a bit of shaky cam, but I like the artificial grain.

Through it’s setting in snowy and cold mountains, the film is reminiscent of Renny Harlin’s “Devil’s Pass” aka “The Dyatlov Pass Incident” and in terms of story, the film have some others similarities. But this one is better than Harlin’s film since the finale is as bonkers. It’s also channeling all the Chupacabra cattle mutilation nonsense.

The characters are quite likable and there is no tension in the group which is unusual but welcome and there is some great gore. It’s not the violence itself that we see, but the aftermath. There is a great kind of mass grave and one guy whose face has been skinned who comes back to life and shrieks. The practical effects look great too.

The creatures are a mixed bag. The CGI isn’t that good, but there are some practical creature effects, aka people in suits, and those look fine. But they aren’t really scary or anything and sometimes made me chuckle.

While there are a few moments that are a bit tense, the film has too many stretches of nothingness and feels longer than it is. And since it follows the formula so closely, plot point are fairly predictable. If you’ve seen a couple of found footage film like this one, you’ll know every scare and how they’ll execute it. It’s like ‘oh, she’s facing the camera, that means something is gonna sneak up on her out of the darkness on her left’.

“Cold Ground” is a solid found footage film. Nothing special and the execution could have been better in many places, but it’s well done enough to be better than some similar flicks. It barely manages to get 3 generous stars.