Episode 50 - DVD

Content: The reality show Paranormal Inspectors has been running successfully for 49 episodes on the specialty channel G-TV (Ghost TV). Damon (Chris Perry) and Jack (Josh Folan), the show's two creators, along with their two co-workers Andi (Natalie Wetta) and high-tech expert Jose (Robert Maisonett), want to present a very special 50th episode as the season finale. That's when an offer from the heavily wealthy Andrew Worthington Jr. comes just in time. At just 38 years old, the son of one of the richest men in America is stricken with pancreatic cancer and faces his imminent death. Having cheated on women, used drugs, and deceived people in his short life, he wants to know only one thing: must he burn in hell for all eternity or can he confidently meet the end. To that end, he allows the team of Paranormal Inspectors access to the grounds and all the rooms of West Virginia's legendary insane asylum, the site of the most paranormal occurrences in the U.S., for one weekend. While Damon and Jack are supposed to prove that there is a rational explanation for these occurrences, Worthington has allowed a second team to investigate: the college spirit research club led by Dylan Miller (Keithen Hergott), who believe in spiritual phenomena and want to prove that a demonic spirit is roaming the grounds. There is tremendous tension between the two teams right from the start, but that soon becomes the least of the paranormal investigators' problems.

Episode 50 is a mix of mockumentary and found footage horror. The film features the previously under wraps 50th episode of a fake reality show, which of course just happens to resemble actual existing TV formats. While the idea of actual horror occurring on such a show is not new. In the series Tales from the Crypt, for example, there was a great and really scary episode with a very similar concept. Still, the idea is full of potential and especially the rather ironic beginning, which shows clips from the 49th episode of the reality show, is still very promising.

But unfortunately, there are two aspects in particular that stand in the way of a truly successful genre representative. The first aspect is purely technical. The film pretends to be a documentary recorded by a camera crew and various high tech equipment, precisely a fake documentary or mockumentary. But way too often camera angles and cuts are used that don't make any sense under this aspect and make the whole thing look more like an ordinary feature film. The makers should have clearly decided on a style and then stuck to it consistently to be able to convince the audience. The second aspect are the not exactly convincing performances of the actors, which often seem very amateurish and thus also clearly reduce the fun of the action. This is a pity, because the film has some nice scary moments and a coherent atmosphere to offer, which with a slightly higher budget and more professional actors probably could have been more effective.

Episode 50 is certainly not an unbearable trash, but there are too many successful moments. But given the existing potential compared to what the creators got out of it, the whole thing is then rather disappointing than convincing. If you like simple-minded low budget creepiness and don't care too much about great acting and quality dialogue, however, you can still feel free to take a look at the lost Episode 50.

Image + Sound: Although found footage films and mockumentaries usually feature shaky video footage, usually shot by less than perfect quality recording devices such as surveillance, cell phone or small handheld cameras, Episode 50 offers a surprisingly good, often even pleasantly steady and sharp image. This is explained, at least in some scenes, by the use of high-quality TV cameras. Otherwise, image sharpness, color mixing and the occasionally slightly overdrawn contrasts are on an absolutely decent level for such a low budget production. The same applies to the sound, which is determined over long stretches especially by the centrally mixed dialogues, here and there but also with purposefully used sound effects for good surround feeling and a pleasant goosebumps provide. Good!

Extras: A bonus menu has not to offer the DVD. At least, however, there is an audio commentary (unfortunately not subtitled) by Joe and Tess Smalley together with producer Ian Hold via the Settings item, the three of whom also wrote the script for the film. It's a very enthusiastic commentary that makes the film seem a wee bit better than it actually is.

Conclusion: Episode 50 offers a good initial idea, which was also executed really well in places thanks to some effective scares and shock effects. But unfortunately, the low budget, the rather weak script and especially the not particularly distinctive talent of the actors make themselves felt again and again, whereby the entertainment and scary value is unfortunately considerably diminished. So this contribution to the found footage subgenre is ambitious and sometimes pleasantly exciting, but real horror is unfortunately far too rare. Since the DVD does not even have good bonus material to offer, interested genre fans should rather first rent the film in an (online) video store before a possible purchase

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp