With ROPE, which was based on the stage play, Alfred Hitchcock tried to shoot an entire movie from a single point of view, without cutting away any more than was absolutely necessary (reloading the camera being the primary reason necessary cuts had to be camouflaged); the result was a movie that resembled a stage play. The opening sequence of TOUCH OF EVIL was rightfully hailed as a filmmaking triumph (see the restored version). The first-person (subjective) point of view was used to good effect in LADY IN THE LAKE, as well as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT; it's always a viable option (I feel), especially for low budget filmmakers. The very first thing I ever saw on a Public Access Channel was a walking tour of a nearby neighborhood: the cameraman turned on his camcorder and just started walking through this neighborhood. At one point, he encountered a small dog outside an apartment door. He ended up getting into a car and placing the camera on his dashboard (or mounting it on his shoulder; I forget which) and videotaped his drive along a main thoroughfare. It was mesmerizing (which shows you just how easily entertained I am). I couldn't wait to get my hands on a camcorder. The only real problem I have with INVASION (or INFECTION, or whatever it's called these days) is the lackluster acting; the 60 minute travelogue footage I can live with: it reminded me of getting lost in just such an area when I was driving a cab several years ago. There was radio contact with the dispatcher, but there was no map of the area I was in, so I just had to drive around, at night, searching for the fare I'd been sent to pick up. Gas was running out quick, and there was nothing that even remotely looked like a service station in the area. (If you don't think that being lost on a back road at night is scary, you've never been lost on a back road at night.) The handful of houses I glimpsed off in the darkness looked like something straight out of THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Again, with tighter performances, I think that this one could've been a winner; as is, not a bad try.
