UNDOCUMENTED
Directed by: Chris Peckover
Written by: Chris Peckover, Joe Peterson
Starring: Scott Mechlowicz, Alona Tal, Kevin Weisman, Peter Stormare
UNDOCUMENTED is a horror film with a great premise and shoddy execution. It’s the type of movie that gets you very excited in the first fifteen minutes and then squanders your high hopes as it moves along. While it’s not an awful movie by any means and even has some really effective moments, it falls far short of what it could’ve been.
UNDOCUMENTED follows a documentary crew as they investigate the issue of illegal immigration. The crew is comprised of grad students with some friends living in Mexico who plan to enter the states. The plan is to hitch a ride with a bunch of illegal aliens crossing the border and expose just how broken and dangerous entering the United States illegally is. What starts as a simple documentary becomes a fight for their lives after the characters are captured by a fanatical group of “patriotic” Americans. These masked madmen hijack the film and show them their violent, hateful desert compound full of kidnapped and tortured illegal aliens.
Again, the premise of UNDOCUMENTED is really pretty great, both topical and full of possibility. Yet, UNDOCUMENTED shoots itself in the foot in several ways. First and most evident is the mockumentary approach of the film. Almost all of the movie is told through documentary footage, ala CLOVERFIELD or QUARANTINE. That could work yet the movie doesn’t stick to its own rules. The last ten minutes of the movie is all told in a normal narrative format, the entire mockumentary angle is dropped. As well, when the mockumentary is employed it’s average at best. The camera is constantly moving and has a hard time focusing while the lighting in many scenes doesn’t work at all, causing you to lose focus on what you’re really seeing. There’s a scene in the back of a van that is just too dark and confusing. I’m not sure if this was Peckover’s intent but if so, he should have thought it over because I was desperately wanting more night vision shots.
Honestly, the film should have abandoned the mockumentary angle completely. It really doesn’t add much of anything. Stick to a normal narrative format about a documentary crew making a movie and maybe occasionally show the POV of the camera but there’s really no need to devote so much of the film to it. The fact that many festival attendees were arguing over if it was or wasn’t a mockumentary shows how poorly it worked. It’s a clever idea but it just doesn’t pan out.
Also unfortunate is the use of music throughout the film. UNDOCUMENTED is filled with a dramatic, swelling, loud score, emphasizing when the audience should be scared or when they should expect oncoming horror. You don’t really notice how unfortunate it is until you witness a scene without music and realize the score actually detracts from the tension, it’s much scarier without music. Besides, documentaries rarely have scores as over-the-top as this. Honestly, the music feels like a tacked-on addition to amp up the terror. It doesn’t.
The failed mockumentary approach isn’t the only narrative problems in UNDOCUMENTED. After the crew gets captured, the film plateaus for quite a while. They witness several horrific acts by the “patriots” but it doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s just scene after scene of brutal, horrendous acts. Several escape attempts are derailed and our characters pretty much float from horrific event to horrific event. Each scene basically consists of our leads standing around looking scared and helpless while the masked men abuse or kill some poor illegal immigrant. We don’t feel like we’re moving forward or going anywhere.
Despite my many qualms, I still enjoyed some stuff about UNDOCUMENTED. The characters are likable (Kevin Weisman deserves a special nod), the lead villain named “Z” is appropriately creepy and imposing and, as I said, it’s a topic that is apt for a horror film. Also, there are some scary moments in the movie, namely a pitch black escape attempt and a voyage through an underground tunnel. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel UNDOCUMENTED really missed a chance at true greatness. It’s a movie that has a novel and original premise but just got tangled up by its own ideas.
3 out of 5
