Living Among Us (2018) Reviews

• Good, fun film with a few stumbles.

  paulgreen8792018-02-05

  VERY solid cast. Loved James Russo, John Heard, William Sadler. Those old dogs made this movie and gave it weight! Great story until the third act which went into a typical all-action survival ride. I loved the premise, I loved the story, I just wish the damn third act had been a little more cleaned up. That said, my friend loved the third act most of all. Maybe I'm just too old, who knows. I will say I didn't get bored. Not a perfect film, but very entertaining and very watchable. Anyone watching this should agree this is much better than your average horror movie.

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• Invigoratingly Entertaining

  nebk2018-02-03

  Living Among Us is a refreshingly entertaining horror fantasy with comedic undertones. It concerns a documentary camera crew sent in to interview a family of vampires living in suburban L.A. They are welcomed with open arms as long as they bring no crosses, holy water or stakes. The "family" are interviewed one by one and offer explanations for their vampiric nature claiming they are people with feelings just like anyone else and have been infected by a vampiric virus which makes it impossible for them to live in direct sunlight. They also claim that due to technology they don't need to kill humans but can survive on donated blood. Soon however things take a much darker and sinister turn and the documentarians find themselves fighting for their lives after witnessing the true nature of the vampires (Blood Sacrifices, Ancient Rituals, Hunting and Dismemberment of Humans etc). The acting is good all around especially by William Sadler, Andrew Keegan, Esme Bianco and the late John Heard as the Vampires. The documentary crew played by Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jordan Hinson and Hunter Gomez all act decently as well as do the rest of the supporting actors. There are some tongue in cheek lines such as "I'm really excited to have you" "we have been dining with humans for years...and on them." and "you honestly thought we live there?" In regards to a derelict house next door and "we have been entertaining for centuries, we do know how to make you guys a meal." There are certain issues such as the shaky camera found footage, but in this case it does work. Also the vampires trying to convince humans they are harmless should have taken greater care in not exposing their true nature. Other than that Living Among Us is a very good film that i will probably watch again.

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• Very entertaining film

  tsmith34522018-02-05

  Not perfect 100% but a good 90%. It was better than the average found footage film. After reading all the reviews about it, I decided to get this film on VOD. I noticed one major thing - all the horror reviewers seemed to like it and the ones that don't specialize in horror hated it. So me being not just a horror lover but a film lover decided it was worth the try. Okay, the trailer got me interested because I love the Crystal Castles song used. I came to some interesting conclusions. No, this was not another What We Do In the Shadows. I did also see that this was shot before that film ever came out to all the people who keep saying this film copied it. I did my own research and you can see a DOZEN press releases dating back to 2013. That's 2 years before WWDITS ever came out!! But if this had been a ghost found footage film, nobody would be saying crap because every other found footage is about a ghost. The two films were nothing alike in any way, shape or manner. They don't have vampire teeth, the premise is nothing alike between the two. And this uses more traditional filmmaking techniques. I really loved William Sadler's performance as the Vampire lead. He was so perfect in this with a very diabolical side to him but also so politically correct. Writer/director/producer Brian Metcaf took a tired genre and gave it some new blood, so to speak. You can tell he knows film. It almost has an oldschool sensibility to it with a modern spin. Why didn't I give this a perfect 10? I thought some of the acting was a little off. I thought the cuts got annoying a little at times but now I'm just getting picky. I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea but definitely the horror fans will love it. My girlfriend loved it and she doesn't even like horror. Well that's probably her old school crush Andrew Keegan was in it as an overly obnoxious vampire. My score: Acting - 9 Directing - 9 Writing - 9 Entertainment - 10 Premise - 10 Originality - 10 Visuals - 10

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• Strong premise - a cut above the typical found footage film

  joedean1232018-02-05

  Let me start out by saying I HATE found footage films in general. Dark, grainy, you can't see anything, shaky handheld crap with a bunch of people (not actors) who can't act. So when I got talked into seeing this with a friend I was VERY pleasantly surprised. But this is not a typical found footage film nor does it play by the rules of one. Known actors are used. The camera work is nicely done and I don't get dizzy as hell where I have to look away. I actually get to know the characters really well - especially the vampires. The premise is strong with bits of political influence. Everyone knows now that found footage is fake anyways. So why use people that can't act? It's insulting to watch alot of these films. I just saw Phoenix Lights and before that only because Ridley Scott produced it and I was like yep, same typical crap with footage I can't see and everything pitch black with boring interactions until the last 10 minutes. But this film actually entertained me the whole way through. Yes, the acting in this is far superior to any other found footage film I have seen, especially Andrew Keegan, who manages to outshine the rest of the cast playing the sociopathic vampire. That being said, most of the cast is still solid. The weird and silent Selvin guy is a perfect opposite for Keegan. John Heard, who passed away, is very convincing as the patriarch. Esme Bianco is very elegant in her role. The weakest actors are the camera crew minus Mike or Thomas Ian Nicholas who does manage to pull off an arrogant director that tries to take all the credit for himself. I like him in this because I have never seen him actually play this before. Carrie and Benny tend to be a little stale and boring. Writer/director Brian A. Metcalf can actually direct and write. It is apparent in his composition, use of blocking and camera angles to make the shots far more interesting than it should be for being stuck inside a house all the time. He does not cut away from any important action. His writing is very witty and the actors know how to tell their lines. I get to learn each of the characters' personalities without spending an overly amount of time on each of them. There was entertaining music. It even felt at times like Clockwork Orange with the use of classical music and some of the shots. This film is fun, entertaining and witty which is something that movies these days seem to miss. And while I expected certain things to happen, they were done in an entertaining way that I did not expect. Loved the ending as well! I give this 10 stars because it's the ONLY enjoyable found-footage film I have seen in quite a while. But then again, I don't consider this really a found footage film.

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• Nothing new or interesting here

  iluvpizza22019-02-25

  The premise was intriguing - along the lines of what Taika Waititi did with the infinitely superior What We Do in the Shadows - but the execution here was lackluster. The overall writing, dialogue and plot was terrible. The only saving grace is some of the acting.