User reviews

'APARTMENT 143': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Another 'Found Footage' haunting movie. This one focuses on a family that recently lost their wife/mother who's haunted by the unknown, at their apartment and the house they lived at prior, and the team of parapsychologists tasked to investigate. It was written by Rodrigo Cortes (who also directed the claustrophobic thriller 'BURIED') and directed by rookie feature film director Carles Torrens. It's a Spanish film originally titled 'Emergo' but it's spoken all in English with American actors (including Michael O'Keefe of 'CADDYSHACK' fame). There's definitely nothing new or original to the story but the scares are effective and well done.

The story revolves around Alan White (Kai Lennox) and his daughter Caitlin (Gia Mantegna) and son Benny (Damian Roman) who recently moved in to apartment #143 of an apartment building after experiencing strange things at their old home. The unusual disturbances continue to haunt them at their new home and Alan asks a team of three parapsychologists, lead by Dr. Helzer (O'Keefe), to investigate what's going on. We soon learn that Alan lost his wife in a car accident and his daughter blames him for it. Helzer and his team constantly witness the drama between the two as well as weird occurrences they were told about. They're able to catch it all on video (of course) as the investigation becomes more and more bizarre.

Like I said there's absolutely nothing unique about this film but it is entertaining if you like spooky films full of shocks. The only problem is you'll soon forget everything as there's nothing memorable to the film. That's the thing about movies like this; they're a lot of fun while you're watching them but don't stay with you at all (I'm sure a year from now I'll barely remember this film). Still it's better made and more effective than something like 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY'. Scary movie fans looking for a few scares could do a lot worse.

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Apartment 143 gives us a look at a supposedly haunted apartment. The difference here is that the scientific investigators are looking for scientific explanations rather than the supernatural. It's a neat idea, but leads to some heavy exposition scenes that betray the found-footage set-up. Perhaps if these had been explained in talking head interviews it wouldn't seem so clunky and forced. The film does well to have a little mystery behind it and the cast are generally rather impressive. One of the biggest problems is how quick it wants to start. I don't find that these films work without a decent amount of build up. Here, the camera crew walk in and stuff is happening almost immediately. I also got tired at the scientists continued explanations of stuff when it was clear that some of these things were impossible to explain. Some decent effects and genuine scary parts make this a fine effort, but with a bit more time and some better pacing this could have been so much better.

The reviews of this movie really got me excited. I had just about given up on this style of horror films, so to hear that one was getting some very positive buzz got me fairly excited. But as with "Grave Encounters", I found myself feeling letdown the further the movie progressed.

The idea behind "Apartment 143" is interesting, you have a group of scientists investigating a possible paranormal haunting. Seeing them act very professional about the whole ordeal was fairly entertaining. This alone is what made the film feel a tad fresh and original. The scares were decent but as events unfolded I found myself getting tired of seeing things move around and what not.

With the recent explosion of films along this genre it is hard to really surprise the audience, and that is the main problem this movie had. You arn't going to see anything here you haven't seen before. That doesn't mean that the movie's not entertaining, it will hold your attention throughout, but you can't help but feel like you've seen this entire thing before in tons of other movies.

If you really have an urge to watch a "Found Footage" horror film and you have already seen "Paranormal Activity", than this is probably the best available option atm. Just don't be fooled by all the buzz, this isn't anything great, it is a entertaining yet forgettable movie that is worthy of killing a week day night.

There are some great scares in this movie that kept me going. Then there were the terrible ones. And the long, drawn-out drama scenes that just didn't work for me. Maybe because they tended to be clichéd scenes that I already knew the ending to that they tried to extend for dramatic effect but fell flat. At the end of one of those scenes, one of the actors was laughing, and I don't think she was acting because it was ridiculous. The premise was okay, but I don't feel like they stuck to it. In the end, you don't know exactly what happened or why. And I didn't even care. It's just not that good. On a side note, as I looked this up, I saw Michael O'Keefe in the cast! I realized, "Oh! It's the kid from Caddyshack!" He didn't do a bad job, but I thought it was funny.

This movie, though very predictable, definitely had its moments of terror. The build-up before the moments that made you jump were great, and although I was fully anticipating what was to come I still jumped several times. The plot was decent and I appreciated how the characters were written. The acting was surprisingly good for a low-budget film, I was definitely impressed by that. The apex of the film was very intense and dramatic, if slightly cheesy. The only thing that really bothered me was the very, very cliché ending. I felt as though I've seen that very ending 10 other times in various other movies, it has been so over-done that it will ruin an entire movie for me. But other than the very end, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and would definitely recommend it!

'Found Footage'/shot at home style horror movies are 10 a penny these days, mostly because they are relatively cheap and easy to film. As such, it takes a lot to make them original because there are so damn many of them. This had it's moments of originality but for the most part was same-old, same-old. However, Apartment 143 starts out a lot better than most, jumping straight into the story without the tedious back story of the investigators or family padding out the first half, which was a good move.

The basic story is that there are some spooky goings on surrounding a family consisting of Dad, daughter Caitlin and son Benny. The investigators pitch up in their house and stay there, setting up their equipment and monitoring the situation. There are a few jump scenes thrown in here and there, and some rather confusing explanations as to what is causing the phenomena.

The acting was mostly decent throughout, and the way the investigators conducted themselves was a lot more interesting than the typical cliché investigators, who freak out at the slightest thing.

The reason the Paranormal Activity money-grabbers are so dull is that virtually nothing happens, and if it does it happens right at the end of the movie. Thankfully Apartment 143 does give the viewer some supernatural goings on very quickly, and they are not badly done, but overall I felt it was just a little boring. Nothing like as bad as PA, and I watched the whole way through, but it wasn't 'edge of your seat' stuff, and none of the jump scenes got me.

The one thing I did like was how the tension built for the one scene where they are using the constant flash on the camera. I thought that was really well done, and the best scene in the movie.

All in all, it wasn't a bad found footage movie, and it might scare you a bit if you're not a horror buff, but for any aficionados it wasn't up to much. See it rather than Paranormal Activity, but for something better with more scares, grab Grave Encounters instead.

It kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I watched it with a friend who is much more sensitive and he was terrified; said he'll "never watch a scary movie again." I watch a lot of horror movies and this one is a must see. It is a short film but worth every minute. It's like if you took out all of the scary moments from paranormal activity 1,2&3 and just made a movie out of that footage, but this movie is still much better. In it's 80 minutes you will find the perfect blend of action, suspense, supernatural occurrences and scary images. It didn't scare me as much as the ring did but that is one of my all time favorites. The story line is original and I don't think you will be disappointed.

Here's The Lowedown on "Apartment 143" (A Horror/Fount Footage DVD review)...LIKED IT!!

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Genre: 7.5 Movie: 5.5

What's it about?

A parapsychologist team are asked to investigate Apartment 143. The White family, who have lost their wife/mother in a car crash, have been experiencing strange things since they moved in to the apartment. But, they were also experiencing things at their old place.

What did I think?

Found Footage movies are an acquired taste...and I for one have a taste for them. If you are a fan like I am, this movie is better than most. If it is not your style, however, You probably won't like it. The cast is recognizable and the acting was good...plus there are no misconceptions about it being real. Give it a shot...see what you think.

The widower Alan White (Kai Lennox) invites the parapsychologists Dr. Helzer (Michael O'Keefe), Ellen Keegan (Fiona Glascott) and Paul Ortega (Rick Gonzalez) to investigate a supernatural phenomenon in his apartment in an old apartment building. Alan is an unemployed agronomist engineer that lives with his four year-old son Benny (Damian Roman) and his teenage daughter Caitlin (Gia Mantegna), who blames her father for the death of her mother Cynthia (Laura Martuscelli) in a car crash. After witnessing weird events, Dr. Helzer and his team find the cause of the activities…or not?

"Emergo" is another boring and unoriginal movie that follows the "style" of "The Blair Witch Project" of making cheap movies with handy cam, no lighting and poor edition. There are a couple of scary moments but along the 80 minutes running time there are too much technical explanation for the haunted apartment by the annoying Dr. Helzer. This Spanish variation of paranormal activity is a waste of time. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Apartamento 143" ("Apartment 143")

Horror movies has long suffered from an illness called "lack of originality". There are several ways to combat this, one of them is risking. This Spanish film, directed by Carles Torrens and written by Rodrigo Cortés, tried to risk, but the shot backfired due to the stupid ideas that passed through the heads of these two gentlemen. It must be said, however, that Spanish cinema has been responsible for some of the most airy and innovative horror films of recent years, and this has made me expect something more from this film that never came.

Using the old "found footage" formula, which we have already seen in "Paranormal Activity" and "Last Exorcism", we follow a team of experts who will investigate strange phenomena in a house where a man and two kids are living after the recent death of his wife/mother. And here the inconsistencies begin... for example, the experts say they don't want to disturb their comfort but, at the same time, they settle in their house, fill everything with machinery and put more cameras than in "The Big Brother" show . Does it make sense? Shortly after, the audience begins to be toasted with subtle supernatural activities that worsen over time, but the film doesn't explore this, preferring to suggest "logical explanations" for the phenomena. Many of them are implicitly suggested but they're there: sickness, sexual harassment, murder... the film shoots in all directions until it disproves its own haunting thesis, contradicting itself to the point that we no longer know what the hell of experts are those guys! The ending turns out to be so bad and disappointing that it makes me want to make the screenwriter to swallow the movie.

Brutal inconsistencies, bad script options, bad dialogues, a lot of dead moments with some scares in the middle... In all these mud, there's something positive: good sound and special effects is much better than the poor quality that reigns in horror films and Gia Mantegna overcame her youth and inexperience, proving to be a better actress than many of those adults... Kai Lennox was also well, in a suffered and psychologically very heavy character. And that's all that this unfortunate movie has to give us. It doesn't add anything good to the genre and will not bring good memories to anyone involved. Fortunately, it also turns out to be so forgettable that you're probably going to forget it the day after watching.

There are lights in every corner of the house, and the electricity is on, but the film is so amateur that only camera light is used just to "scare" people. I don't understand people using only camera light and get scared instead of simply turning the lights on. It's even pitch dark near the door- while the outside corridor is brightly illuminated. The owner of the house doesn't need to turn the lights on when opening the door. Another vampire movie scenario would be more appropriate. Amateur, amateur movie.

A four-year old kid is hanging around and not even scared when things go real crazy- another big fail. There's no rational and sensational explanation of a four-year old kid walking in the house without even screaming and taking everything so natural.

Why does not the family move away ? This is another question the scenario-maker needs to answer. Yes the "haunting" is about the family not the place, but at least the family needs to try communicating to the soul and solve the problem, instead of hiring a crew to put cameras and take pictures of the house. A lack of rational scenario.

A parapsychologist team (Michael O'Keefe , Fiona Glascott , Rick Gonzalez) are asked to investigate Apartment 143 . The motley team of parapsychologists attempt to figure out a strange phenomenon occurring in an apartment building. It is inhabited by White family (father : Kai Lennox and children : Gia Mantegna, Damian Roman) , who have lost their wife/mother in a car accident , they have been experiencing rare things since they moved in to the strange flat . But, they were also experiencing things at their old place . After the team set up their equipment , they get some compelling evidence on camera , appearing creepy figures and eerie events . The First Real Ghost Story !.

A scary parapsychological film with intrigue, thrills, chills and surprising events . The movie is decent enough , but we had already seen it before and better in other films . This is a haunted teen movie that contains restless horror when a creepy and threatening being is attacking the family members and the parapsychological team . Tension , eerie atmosphere , genuine chills , suspense are continued and appear lurking and menacing in the dining room , hallway and rooms . Great loads of screams , shocks , exploitation and terror abound with the usual poltergeists and fantastic phenomenon caused by the weird apparition . A short budget and offbeat film that often drags but it has its moments here and there . It's recreated with adequate make-up and a plethora of high grade special effects which are frightening and horrifying the amazed spectator .

This suspenseful film was well written and produced by Rodrigo Cortés . This Spanish writer/producer/filmmaker has directed notorious international successes , such as : Red Lights , Dawn in dark hill or Blackwood , The Contestant or El Concursante and his biggest hit : Buried. It contains a thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Victor Reyes . As well as adequate but dark cinematography by cameraman Óscar Durán , shot in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain . The motion picture was professionally directed by Carle Torrens , though with no originality because it copies clichés and other flicks in similar horror style . Craftsman Carles Torrens was born in 1984 in Barcelona, Spain and has a long career as Shorts director . He is a good writer, producer and filmmaker known for Delaney (2008), Sequence (2013), ABCs of Death 2.5 (segment "M is for Mom") and Pet or Animal de compañía (2016). And he has made various episodes of notorious TV series , such as : Vis a Vis , Malaka , El ministerio del Tiempo , El Internado: Las Cumbres and Feria: La luz más oscura . Emergo (2011) rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable terror thriller .

Apartment 143 is surprisingly bad, I was really quite disappointed with it. From the trailer, the cast and the plot I figured that it would be quite a good film but it really isn't.

The story is really Grave Encounters meets August: Osage County with half the picture weaving a spooky story of ghouls and paranormal activity, whilst the other half literally involves nothing but the counselling of a seriously uncharismatic family. As is usually the way, the troubled father is just boring, the angsty teen seems spoilt and the ghost hunters are background props with absolutely no development of character whatsoever. The little kid is cute though.

The amount of clichés are gargantuan with the film including slamming doors, a deceased mother, a child communicating with the spirits, possession, electrical interference and surveillance footage. Of course these are in fact timeless conventions of the supernatural genre, however unfortunately in Apartment 143, they just seem so tried and tested it makes the whole film hysterically boring.

Not recommended. 3/10

In the world of Paranormal Activity ripoffs we have been introduced to some rather good versions and really bad versions. This one is in the later part of the series.

I expected this film to be better than it actually ended up to be. The story is pretty interesting, but the scares are not. It looked cheap and cheesy many times. I didn't get scared, I just got annoyed.

I felt like I wasted a night on this movie. It's not bad if your just bored out of your mind, but serious horror fans might want to avoid this one.

There are better found footage films out there, in fact there are better horror films out there period.