I've been buzzing about this for months now. Finally raced off this morning. At 11:15, there must have been about five other people in that cinema. I quickly ate the cheeseburger I'd smuggled in, drank the coke I'd had hidden in my coat and opened my ASDA bag of humbugs and got ready for the film of the year.

... then spent the next 80 minutes bored and frustrated.

Sorry to sum it up like that, but what more can I say? Well, here's a brief outline (without any spoilers) of what the film is about. Basically, the whole thing is a single video cassette from a handheld camera - so you watch the whole thing from start to finish. Very Blair Witch Project-y. But just in case you're stupid and might possibly forget that it's supposed to be a handheld camera, the guy holding the damn thing shakes it at every possible opportunity, giving you feelings of motion sickness. Half the time you can't focus on stuff, other times the screen moves so fast that you have to look away or get dizzy.

The opening party (you'll have seen it on the trailer) lasts waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy too long. It just goes on and on. I think the point is to make the moment when everything kicks off more surprising - but dammit, that's what I paid my money for. I know it's a monster movie, so let's get on with it! Show me some special effects!

Once things do get underway, the style of filming is actually very effective. You do get a feeling of being in there with the action, and at this point in the movie it doesn't matter that you don't see a great deal of any monster - just lots of the effects and devestation. It does look pretty scary, but you can't shake the feeling that those first scenes of chaos are very, VERY, much inspired by footage of 9/11. One scene, where they run into a shop to avoid the dust cloud from a fallen building - I'd swear it was copied frame by frame from that documentary about the firecrew.

For me, around this point it would have been nice to have some cut footage actually showing the group who had the handheld camera - just to give you a rest from the endless shaking. I know that it would infringe on the point of the film, ie that we're seeing the actual footage - but we all know it's just a movie, so how about a little artistic licence? No such joy. The camera guy keeps swinging that thing around, getting bits of this, bits of that, bits of the monster (don't blink) and when things get really rough you can't help thinking, "Drop the fucking camera and run, or help that girl before she falls!" - ie you lose belief in the film, so it kind of shoots itself in the foot.

The monster itself - weird and pretty scary. I'm not going to give much away because there isn't really a lot to say, and there's no point spoiling the plot just for the hell of it, but I came away disappointed because I'd heard rumours about what the monster was supposed to be - ie, Cthulhu. This may well be the case, or at least it might be inspired by Cthulhu and the works of the horror writer, HP Lovecraft, but there was nothing to back this up. I don't need a full explanation, but maybe a few hints, maybe someone in the cast who knew a little more than nothing.

Overall, it was pretty good and worth a few quid - I'd even go so far as to say I'll buy the DVD. It's very short, and it doesn't have the big lull in the middle like Godzilla (no, they had that at the start ) and better still, it doesn't have the cheese-factor that so many Hollywood monster movies do - so in that vein it was a success.

The way it ends is reminiscent of a few other movies (if I say the names it will gives it away), but I think this blatant rip off is redeemed with the final-final scene, which works very well.

But I do need to mention the weirdest part - no soundtrack! You actually don't notice as the film progresses, but when it ends, it ends in silence, and that is strange. The credits come up and the house lights come on without a sound. People are sort of looking about like they don't know whether to get up and leave or not. It was a bit embarrassing - especially for me, because I dropped the rest of my humbugs and they flew here there and everywhere.

So a four out of five for the idea and concept, but a one for delivery and minus several for that dodgy camera work.

Colin M.