Night Terror has great twist, though camera work is disorienting

Night Terror is a documentary-style horror flick that follows Autumn, an Amateur documentarian as she documents the paranormal activity surrounding a young girl Shelley, who has struggled with sleep paralysis for most of her life. Things have gotten much worse since the death of Shelley and Wendy’s mother, so they decide to seek help and figure out exactly what is causing it.

They set up a camera in Shelley’s room to document what happens while she sleeps, but Shelley keeps referring to a mysterious “him,” saying that he doesn’t like being recorded. On the very first night, the camera begins malfunctioning, and Shelley completely freaks out, screaming and becoming inconsolable. From there, the activity only gets stranger. The chaotic shooting style can give a little bit of nausea but really holds to the style of amateur documentary by a couple of young adults.

One night, the cameraman notices the front door is open and wanders outside to investigate. In the darkness, he spots two eerie glowing eyes staring back at him from the shadows. As more unexplained things begin happening around the house, they eventually bring in a paranormal investigation team on night three in hopes of getting some answers to the unexplained phenomena happening in their very midst. 

I actually appreciated the self-filmed documentary style because it made the movie feel like we were watching real footage someone had discovered. My biggest issue was the camera work. The crooked angles throughout the movie, combined with the focus constantly going in and out, sometimes made it difficult to follow what was happening. I understand that the rough camera work was part of the documentary aesthetic, but at times it became more distracting than immersive.

The story builds toward an attempted exorcism and an interesting plot-twist ending that changes how you look at what has been happening throughout the film. Overall, Night Terror has a creepy concept and some genuinely unsettling moments. If you enjoy found-footage and documentary-style paranormal horror, it’s definitely one to check out.