‘Do you think they’re punishing us?‘
Big Brother really did change the world. Reality TV is ubiquitous now, but Big Brother felt like the tipping point. The so-called ‘social experiment’ that gave rise to all sorts of weird and wonderful (and mostly terrible) reality TV shows since. Horror movies have always been a reflection of the age in which they are released. Without Big Brother and Reality TV, would we have The Blair Witch Project? Paranormal Activity? Rec? It’s difficult to know. We can say with absolute conviction, however, that we wouldn’t have My Little Eye, Halloween: Resurrection, or a bunch of other shitty horror movies that stole the reality TV premise…
Five utterly obnoxious strangers are offered $1 million to spend six months together in an isolated cabin in the woods. Their personalities very rarely extend beyond stock horror movie characters. Rex (Kris Lemche) is the asshole, Danny (Stephen O’Reilly) is the nice guy, Emma (Laura Regan) is the reserved girl and Charlie (Jennifer Sky) seems to have no discernible personality beyond being promiscuous and hot. That leaves Matt (Sean Cw Johnson), a character so bland that I didn’t even notice him at all until his role became more pivotal in the third act. Bizarrely, Hollywood’s Bradley Cooper also shows up halfway through to have sex with the pretty lady and then leave. It’s odd seeing a genuine movie star rocking up in such a low-budget piece of shit, but then My Little Eye is odd. And not in a good way.
It is worth noting that the first cut of this movie was four hours long, a chilling prospect considering that it drags unbearably even at a more manageable 95 minutes. There is not a shred of originality here in terms of plotting, we have all seen this movie play out thousands of times before. The acting is uninspiring. The cinematography needlessly opaque at times. Weirdly, both the sound design and the soundtrack are great, so kudos to whoever is responsible for that, but aside from that, this is essentially a movie about a room full of dickheads arguing with each other. Not unlike an actual episode of Big Brother in that respect.
I don’t know how this ended up on my watchlist, although I have suspicions that Bradley Cooper’s involvement may have something to do with it. I urge anyone reading this never to watch My Little Eye. No, let us never speak of it again.