P.O.V.

Soon to come are a few movies that are all filmed with handheld cameras, ( I assume to give the illusion that were watching the events from the perspective of one of the characters) These 3 films being the top secret J.J. Abrams project, "Cloverfield" the new Romero zombie flick "Diary of the Dead" and the upcoming thriller "The Poughkeepsie Tapes." Now I'm sure they all have their various reasons to film their movies like this, but isn't it strange that all these films are coming out in 2008, let alone within a couple of months of each other? Now I thought this was pretty weird, so let's take a look at what this popular technique has to offer.

1. Cloverfield - Now we've all seen movies with giant monsters (Godzilla, King Kong, Stay-Puff Marshmallo Man) tearing up urban environments, but how about from the smallest and most personal point of view available? Of course I'm talking about the perpsective of some guys digital camera. The concept here makes the threat scarier with the viewers knowing even less of what's going on, and as we've all heard, "sometimes the scariest parts are what you don't see." Personally I think it's pretty neat. I mean this is no low budget movie, so using a trick like this is quite a gamble, but frankly I think it'll manage to payoff.

2. Diary of the Dead - Now though Romero hasn't really stated this, I can't help but ponder if this was partly done for reasons regarding budget. Now I'm aware that he's probably trying to accomplish the same kind of suspense that "Cloverfield" is trying to create and the whole plot is about young film makers, but this almost didn't get a theatrical release and I can't help but ponder if this kind of gimmick can help sell a film.

3. The Poughkeepsie Tapes - Now I've only heard of this from one trailer I saw before "The Mist" but what I've gathered is here we have a murderer who's filming his killing spree and I guess were watching it. This film's terror I assume is supposed to come from the fact that were watching a movie through the eyes of a sick killer giving the film a kind of disturbing edge. Now I pretty much have no interest in this film (particularly due to it's terrible film quality) but am still intrigued that this is using a similar technique as the other two films.

Most likely this is all just a coincidence. I mean it's not like we got a million theatrical "Blair Witch" Knockoffs when that came out, so I doubt any of these films are trying to copy each other's ideas. I just find it strange how often stuff like this happens. For example, in the 90s we got 2 films about Wyatt Earp at about the same time "Tombstone" with Kurt Russel and Kevin Costner's "Wyatt Earp" more recently there were those two films about Truman Capote the successful "Capote" and lesser "Infamous" If I really tried, I bet I could find even more films similar in style or story that had close release dates. I've even heard there might be two films about Edgar Allen Poe out this year. So whether these are all people ripping each other off or just coincidences, I can't help but wonder what's the dealy O?