Now available on VOD through Vimeo and iBleedIndie is the Romanian found footage thriller that was written, produced, directed, edited, and stars Adrian Tofei. He portrays a man who is willing to go to the most extreme measures in order to convince Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway to star in his movie. It is a brilliant character study and portrayal of a sociopathic individual that is on the same level of the characters featured in Psycho, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Angst. With one of the most frightening and realistic psychopaths put to film, this highly disturbing piece of filmmaking has to be considered one of the very best and one of the most realistic found footage movies ever made.





The story falls within the found footage subgenre and can be described as part character study, horror film, and psychological thriller. The success of this production is the believability of the characters, the dialogue, and the actor’s performances. Everything about this feels real, as if this were actual footage that had been compiled from a crime scene. The psychopathic character is thoroughly fleshed out and we get small hints into what has led to his behavior, while focusing on themes of obsession and possible multiple personalities as he inhabits the character within his scripted film when performing violent acts. Some viewers may find the ending to be flat or incomplete. The one thing that would have helped would have been some type of notation at the end like what was presented at the beginning, offering up the police resolution.

The acting is excellent and it is what powers this feature, something that you wouldn’t come to expect from either a low budget independent film or a found footage feature. Tofei delivers a truly masterful performance and deserves to be compared to the other actors in the motion pictures that were mentioned above. The character portrayal has a great deal of depth and it changes throughout, gradually moving from an innocent fanboy to an obsessive psychopath who believes that he has is the character within his own film. His mood bounces around from terrifyingly joyful to morbidly calm, making the use of found footage frighteningly realistic. Sonia Teodoriu, Florentine Hariton, and Alexandra Stroe are all superb portraying actresses brought in under false pretenses in order for Adrian to perform his dark acts. Some reviews have been critical of the naivety of the first two actresses, but I didn’t have an issue with it. I think that when people are pursuing personal dreams they may often overlook dangerous situations. The final exchange between Stroe and Tofei is terrific.





And I will change the world with you, Anne!





It is a low budget feature that relies on found footage. So there is a large amount of shaky camera movements that are common within the subgenre. If you’re not a fan of these, then you should probably stay away from this. There isn’t any particularly strong camera techniques used, which is most likely a creative decision in order to achieve the most realistic shots possible. There is one sequence that appeared to have the camera strategically placed and was effective in its creepiness factor. Because of the low budget nature of this production, there is virtually no blood or gore. There is one scene that employs blood, but it is staged in a way that it ends up being covered up. Some reviews have complained about this, but I didn’t have an issue with it since a reason was given by the psychopath for his methods.





If you can handle found footage and enjoy character studies about psychopaths, then this is highly recommended.



