The Purging Hour

Low budget filmmaking or not, surely you can find a better place to conduct your interviews.

The Diaz family moves from the city to a small mountain village. The story: They all disappear. Some VHS footage mysteriously turns up, and interviews with locals are added to form a faux-documentary. Town officials deny everything sinister going on there.

The problem with The Purging Hour (and it's a big one), is that the film never establishes the threat. Sure, conflicting theories are bandied about. Literally, the family experiences banging noises, rustling, and crashing inside the house, and they all freak. At one point, the father goes outside, and sees the silhouette of a man in the fog. One of the kids goes into the garage to retrieve medicine, and gets his throat cut. Someone/thing tampers with their car so they can't escape. The final seconds of footage they show (that had to be "enhanced"), suggest a (dead) woman from an urban legend is responsible. Jeez, pick a theme.

I am a big fan of found footage and faux-documentaries (when done effectively and believably). Also, foxy Latinas! While I'd consider this story a failure, the movie did have elements that intrigued me. So, 3 stars it is.