Movie Info
Movie Name: Polaroid
Studio: Dimension Films
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): January 10, 2019 (Germany)/September 17, 2019 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
I hate it when my friends are cursed by a camera
Bird Fitcher (Kathryn Prescott) has just received an “antique”. As a photography fan, a Polaroid camera that comes into the antique shop sparks her interest. When she discovered that the camera holds a darkness and people who are caught on its film could face a demonic threat, a race against time to save Bird and her friends means solving the mystery of who the camera belongs to.
Directed by Lars Klevberg, Polaroid is a horror mystery. Based on the short 2015 film also called Polaroid by Lars Klevberg, the film was originally scheduled for release in 2017 but was shelved until 2019. It received negative reviews.
I went into Polaroid figuring it was bad. Skimming Netflix for horror films I haven’t seen, the release of Polaroid without any fanfare already creates some worry. Polaroid lives up to my expectation and is rather dull waste of time.
This thing can’t kill these kids fast enough…
The story for Polaroid is essentially a mash-up of a whole bunch of different horror movies in very unimaginative ways. There are ways to improve movies when you watch them and think “wow what if ____ happened instead of ____”, and the development of these concepts can lead to an entirely new idea. Primarily, Polaroid rips off The Ring and even uses the same curse and format of The Ring to propel the characters. Bird and her generic friends find they are cursed and track the camera to a serial killer who cursed the camera when he was electrocuted. It is like some bad campfire story.
The cast isn’t very interesting either. Kathryn Prescott is an ok lead, but the script has nothing to work with. Most of the teen actors feel like teen actors (even if they are not really teens) and instead of being endearing, they are rather annoying. You kind of don’t mind if they die. In fact, most of the start of the movie is the characters being too impatient to wait for a Polaroid to develop (which is probably the most realistic aspect of the script). The X-Files actor Mitch Pileggi plays a police officer who may or may not have helped cause the problem, but you don’t really care.
The creature can wait to see the picture? Why can’t the kids?
The story is built around cursed pictures, and at least with The Ring you had a terrifying monster who also could build some sympathy before smashing it. Polaroid’s monster is rather uninspired and typical. I would have been more impressed if the movie had at least created a distinctive monster.
Polaroid is a waste of time. With unlikable characters, a rehashed plot, and a monster that does create fear or terror, Polaroid fails on most aspects of a horror movie. You’d be better off watching another better horror film again than try to visit this film for the first time. The characters don’t wait for the film to develop, and if you watch it, you shouldn’t either.
