Little Horror Movie (2018)

Little Horror Movie (2018) (see below for preview images)

Written, Produced and Directed by Jérôme Cohen-Olivar
 
Starring: Einar Kuusk as Einar, Rebecca Ramon as Helen, Cody Heuer as Mark
 
I saw an awesome indie film this weekend!!  This film is making its world premiere at the NOLA Horror Film Fest on September 22.
 
This film is essentially about three young YouTubers who are making videos for their channel as they travel the world.  When they get to Casablanca things get really weird really fast.  
 
Here is a small summary:
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LITTLE HORROR MOVIE
WORLD PREMIERE
NOLA HORROR FILM FEST
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
 
How many views is your life worth?
 
Little Horror Movie from French-Moroccan filmmaker Jérôme Cohen-Olivar is a fresh take on the found footage genre, marrying self-aware humor with suspenseful, blood-soaked terror, and shot on location in the famed city of Casablanca. 
 
Helen, Einar, and Mark are three YouTubers who make their living traveling to foreign countries and immersing themselves deep into the culture, documenting everything for their audience no matter how dangerous. 
 
Following a particularly harrowing incident in Brazil, the trio heads to Casablanca to find their next story and are quickly befriended by Tareek, a charismatic tour guide while exploring the city. 
 
After attending a mysterious local wedding with Tareek, Helen begins acting not quite like herself. Her strange new personality soon causes the trio's childhood secrets and current desires to swirl together, pushing them ever closer to the perilous fate that awaits them -- and testing how far they'll actually go to get more views.
 

This is a wonderfully done new take on the found footage film idea.  This film includes found footage and is also filmed like a regular movie so it’s much easier on the eyes to watch.  I found the whole film creepy.  They did a great job on this one.  The film kept me on the edge of my seat and I never once checked the counter to see how much time was left.  It really kept me involved and entertained, not to mention that it was truly creeping me out. 
 
The dialogue between the characters is completely effortless, the banter back and forth is amusing and adds a very personal edge to the film.  As they work their way through the film, when the characters get that inevitable sense of foreboding and fear their doom is ahead, boy, do you really feel that with them!!!
 
The actors are completely comfortable in front of the camera and, in my opinion, did so well that there’s not an awkward moment in the film.  (You know what I mean, where there’s a pause that’s too long or an awkward look or the flat dialogue, that kind of stuff.)
 
I think the editing was also well done, slashing scenes together the way they did gives quite an impact in some parts of the film.  It really added to the whole spooky and eerie feeling I got watching the whole thing.
 
I will also say that I thought the special effects and makeup were very well done.  At no point did I think any of it looked cheesy or low grade.  The blood looked great, I must say.
 
Here’s a little information about the Director:
 

Jérôme Cohen-Olivar is a French Moroccan filmmaker, producer, and writer. He spent most of his childhood in Morocco, where he made little horror movies in super 8mm (the inspiration for Little Horror Movie) before moving to Los Angeles, where he went to University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. His first short movie Susan Susan was a satire about immigration in the United States, and was purchased by Disney. He produced his first feature film Unveiled in 1994, and returned to the director’s chair in 1999 to make Cool Crime, a dark comedy feature about a gang of ghosts running through LA streets, which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival and launched his relationship with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). 
 
In 2008, Jérôme made his first Moroccan feature film, Kandisha, inspired by a local legend of the revengeful spirit of Aîcha Kandisha. Kandisha won awards at film festivals all over the globe and became a cult phenomenon. After a long break, Olivar returned to filmmaking with the Moroccan box-office hit Midnight Orchestra (2015), the story of a man who returns to Morocco thirty years after having left in the midst of the Yom Kippour war. 
 
In 2013, Oren Peli, the filmmaker behind the hit found footage movie Paranormal Activity, optioned the screenplay for Little Horror Movie. After years of waiting, Jérôme rescued his movie from development hell by taking back the script and producing it himself.
 

Keep your eyes peeled for this film.  You’ll definitely want to see it.  I hope it does well at the Film Fest.  I think they did a spectacular job!
 
RATINGS
4/5 Stars