The Taking of Deborah Logan

Wow.


Ok...in a nutshell. This film does what many...MANY others have tried to do in the past. There are many elements we've seen before.
Faux documentary style footage. Cameras mounted on walls that we see footage from. Hand held camera footage with people running about and shouting things. BUT....The Taking of Deborah Logan does it all a lot better than many of the films I've seen of late.

The factors? More real world applications of the above and a better execution. The acting backs it all up as well. So, we have many of the same elements with a feel that makes it seem far more realistic than some of the other docu-footage films I've sat through and been sad about once they are done.

Example? Towards the end of this film I stood up, moved towards the TV and  folded my arms in front of my chest staring intently at the images on the screen. Then at one point I said, "Wait....WHAAAAT?! Holy CRAP!" out loud at the TV.

At another point I said, "Oh....fuck YOU guys!" and laughed because the filmmakers TOTALLY got me with a jumper. And, at yet another point I physically backed away from my screen a few inches and groaned, "Oh man...that's messed up."

The film is friggin creepy. It has a fantastic "spine" to build off of story wise and it makes use of every once and inch of it. Simple setup - a documentary crew is on site to film Deborah Logan as she fights Alzheimer's with her daughter in the family home. When Deborah takes a quick and unexpected turn for the worse, things get interesting. Nuff said.

And the acting. Holy crap.

Jill Larson

Anne Ramsay

Jill Larson turns in a frigging wondrous performance as Deborah. Riveting. Anne Ramsay plays her daughter, Sarah, and she is equally grand. Very believable and super solid performances that I never scoffed at. The rest of the cast was fab as well, though I have to say they were overshadowed by the performances of Larson and Ramsay. You know what they didn't do? They didn't fail the film and that's huge. In some of these films, the acting of a few misplaced folks completely KILL the film - ripping the viewer away from their involvement in the story into a realm of tearing their acting apart and bemoaning their presence.  Everyone felt "real" here and that was huge. Great casting all around.

And....Adam Robitel. Bravo, man. REALLY nice work.  Really knocked it out of the park with this one. There's a great interview with him on THE INSIDERS, but you should listen to it after watching the film.  He's a smart guy that is bound to do, more grand things in the future.

"FINE! Don't mention ME by name. I did a good job, too. Michelle Ang. I'M Michelle Ang! :)

Ok ok ok...Michelle Ang was good as well. :)



Man...I really enjoyed this film. Is it for everyone? No. In this internet anonymous world we live in, I'm sure people will bash SOMETHING about this film. 

"There's too much TAAAAAAlking...."  Whaa...quiet. I'm trying to listen to actual plot and character driven story. Go play with your CGI ghosts and silly jump-scares somewhere else. :)

"They are just doing stuff like Paranormal Activity."   Whaa...so are thousands of others, but the difference is these guys are kicking arse at it like Oren Peli did with the original.

Like story?  Good acting? FRUCKING CREEEEEEEPY scenes and genuine WTF?! moments?

Check out The Taking of Deborah Logan at once!    

Currently available on NETFLIX, AMAZON and iTunes at the time of this posting.