‘Snapshot’ Review: A Nifty Calling-Card Debut Refashions the Jack the Ripper Story as Found-Footage Horror
Director Joseph Archer and screenwriter-star Cathy Wippell will turn heads with this undeniably stunt-y but eerie novelty set in Victorian London and shot as though with a pinhole camera. Found footage may be a fairly stale gimmick in horror these days, but the low-budget British indie “Snapshot” finds a way to freshen up the idea — and if that largely amounts to layering another technical gimmick over it, the results are nonetheless striking.
Reported by 1 outlet — Variety. See all sources ↓
Director Joseph Archer and screenwriter-star Cathy Wippell will turn heads with this undeniably stunt-y but eerie novelty set in Victorian London and shot as though with a pinhole camera. Found footage may be a fairly stale gimmick in horror these days, but the low-budget British indie “Snapshot” finds a way to freshen up the idea — and if that largely amounts to layering another technical gimmick over it, the results are nonetheless striking. Emulating the look of 19th-century pinhole photography, with the entire film presented in a circular 1:1 aspect ratio, this resourceful debut feature from director Joseph Archer and screenwriter-star Cathy Wippell turns the visual restrictions of that device to its advantage: This imagining of the well-trodden Jack the Ripper tale hinges heavily on what can’t be seen, as it follows a group of young Victorian women pursuing their own supernatural theory behind the killings terrorizing London, and the pioneering male filmmaker who takes it upon himself to document their efforts. Viewers must swallow a certain degree of contrivance to go along with “Snapshot.” For one thing, it demands we accept that Tamworth (voiced by “All My Friends Hate Me” star Tom Stourton), the heard-but-not-seen inventor behind the camera, could have assumed a near fly-on-the-wall kind of presence in various unseemly locations through east London’s underbelly to have captured these revealingly candid reels.
Read the full report at Variety ↗
Why it matters
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- What's the story?
- Director Joseph Archer and screenwriter-star Cathy Wippell will turn heads with this undeniably stunt-y but eerie novelty set in Victorian London and shot as though with a pinhole camera. Found footage may be a fairly stale gimmick in horror these days, but the low-budget British indie “Snapshot” finds a way to freshen up the idea — and if that largely amounts to layering another technical gimmick over it, the results are nonetheless striking.
- How widely is it covered?
- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
- When was it last updated?
- 6m ago.
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‘Snapshot’ Review: A Nifty Calling-Card Debut Refashions the Jack the Ripper Story as Found-Footage Horror
Sources1TypeCoverageVariety