Afflicted (2013)

Well, I thought that I made it out of the woods with this stomach flu, but I was wrong. Whatever this was, I wish it on no one. I am just happy that I did not pass it on, and was able to recover enough to make it to the Comets playoff game last night. Unfortunately, we lost, but it was a great season! The unfortunate thing about my illness was that I did not have the energy to even watch any movies, so this review will be from a movie I watched over the weekend and am now catching up on, the 2013 found footage flick Afflicted.

Plot/ Two best friends see their trip of a lifetime take a dark turn when one of them is struck by a mysterious affliction. Now, in a foreign land, they race to uncover the source before it consumes him completely.

While I am not a huge fan of the found footage genre, occasionally I find one that is at least somewhat entertaining and refreshing to watch. That was definitely the case with this film. It is true that the movie is quite cliché, the idea of taking the found footage aspect and adding in the vampire twist was appreciated. Honestly, I ran out of patience with the paranormal centered varieties that have been offered up. Of course, the acting is uneven, the dialog is unconvincing, the story is predictable, and there are some plot holes that you could drive a truck through, but it is rather entertaining. In the end, this is actually one of the better and more interesting found footage movies to come out in some time. Yes, it is not for everyone (which is the case with this entire genre), but if you like found footage flicks, you should definitely check it out!