REVIEW: Project X

A couple of days ago me and some of the other people on the course went to see a film called "Project X". The  film is shot entirely through handheld view, either from camera phones or a handheld camera. The film is about four teenagers called Thomas, Costa, JB and Dax who decide to hold a house party for Thomas's birthday. These four people are quite low on the social scale at high school and are shown being bullied in some scenes. Regardless Costa invites everyone in high school to the party which is being held at Thomas's house while his parents are away for the weekend. Thomas's parents allow him to have a party at the house but as normal parents would, they want the house to be left the same as when they left it.
So as the night draws in the four boys are at Thomas's waiting for the guests to arrive, but the party's an hour in and there isn't a sign of anyone. Just as the guys are about to call it quits hundreds of their classmates arrive at the door and the party gets started. All goes well for Thomas and the gang as the party is a massive success everyone is having a good time and getting drunk but Thomas can't help but notice that the number of guests are getting larger. The party then spreads from the back garden, into the house, then into the front garden which causes George's neighbours grief and they phone the police. The party gets way out of hand as the guests start to get violent, the number of guests has risen to over a thousand and Thomas is powerless as he loses control over his own party.

I had not seen any trailers for this film before seeing it so had no idea what this film was about, what genre it was or how it was shot. I have been very critical and weary of films shot in this sort of style after watching Cloverfield (In my opinion the worst film ever to hit cinemas) but after watching this I have found myself more willing to watch something similar to this. The film was clearly aimed at teenagers and students as they would be able to relate to the storyline in the way that every teenager has been to a house party (whether or not it has gone out of control). I also loved the concept of the film and how the main character has evolved from a social reject to possibly the best host to a party ever.

Overall I found the film quite enjoyable because of the concept of the storyline and the way it was shot has changed my opinions on films using a handheld point of view. If I were to rate this film on a scale of one to ten I would give it a 7.5.

Till next time

James