Rachel (Yael Grobglas) and Sarah (Danielle Jadelyn), two young Americans, are on a trip to Israel. Initially, they were planning on going to Tel Aviv, but a fresh acquaintance, globe-trotting hottie Kevin (Yon Tumarkin) convinces them to accompany him to Jerusalem instead. There’s some decent multicultural partying to be had, but apparently, the city also harbours one of the three earthly gates of hell (as you know, there’s one in Louisiana), and those are going to swing wide open, because it’s apocalypse time.
Turns out the beginning of a demonic possession apocalypse is not the best time for a vacation. At least, Rachel’s Google Glass films everything.
For yes, this is indeed a POV horror film, just one that exchanges cameras and the usual “why are you filming!?” for stupid hipster tech. From time to time even to good effect: the traditional stumbling around in the dark in the final act certainly feels more natural with camera glasses than with an actual camera, and the final, surprisingly cool, shot only works with this set-up at all.
In other regards, Doron and Yoav Paz’s (here working as The PAZ Brothers) Israeli horror film aims big for its low budget, going for the apocalyptic effect of Cloverfield. It’s not as good as its older sibling in spirit, but there’s a quality of scrappy enthusiasm surrounding this film even when it falls back on very typical zombie apocalypse tropes which makes up for many a minor flaw. It also makes good use of Jerusalem as its setting, using a handful of locations to create a sense of place that of course fits its story nicely. Characters and acting are nothing to write home about, yet they are also consistent and never drag the film down.
Jerusalem is helpful for the film to fall back on where many a backwoods-set POV horror piece begins dragging its feet: it is an uncommon setting for horror, and the directors/writers are doing their best to use this to their advantage.
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