Heidi (2014)

Ryan and his buddy Jack are teenage idiots who think it’s funny to pull pranks and film everything they do. When Ryan is hired to house sit and care for an old ladies bird, they prove to be totally untrustworthy as well as unlikeable.  They find a ladder so they can  go up in her attic to look through her stuff. 

Ryan complains about having to keep the house clean, as if she didn’t hire him to do just that. Jack becomes even less likeable when he says they should sell the stuff in her attic because it’s valuable and she probably has forgotten it’s there since its covered in dust. Not only do they find old comics and toys, they also find a creepy doll whose name is Heidi.

When they get home and review the video they shot, Ryan notices that Heidi moves position from one shot to the next. Jack is not impressed.  However he takes it more seriously when he finds Heidi sitting in his bedroom.  They return the doll to the house.  Soon afterwards the old woman is murdered, and Heidi latches onto them.

Most of the movies is Heidi showing up at their homes, even after they do everything they can to try to get rid of her.  At one point they dump her in the lake, and the doll kills the lake. So this doll will kill anything that lives, not just people. 

There is no back story for the doll. There is really no story to the film either.  The plot could be summed up by saying kids find a doll while house sitting and everyone dies.  The ending juxtaposes news stories about deaths of people who had contact with the doll against Ryan filming his sister’s ballet routine.  It’s not a good choice as the cuts between the two are annoying. Also Ryan is a crap cameraman. She wants to him to film her so she can study her form and he’s doing close ups of her head and shoulders, or just her feet. 

Good found footage movies make you lose yourself in the story and wonder what’s going to happen next.  This falls into the other category where most found footage movies reside.  It’s like watching home movies shot by a friend and you wonder if anything interesting is going to happen and how long it’s going to go on.

Nonsensical song lyrics

I’ve been searching for a long time, like a loser that’s out of control

Dialogue from someone who’s never bought a comic book 

“These are Marvel and DC, all in the original packaging.” (Uhhhh comics didn’t come in packaging. They were just on the shelf in the store.  The plastic bags are used by collectors keep them from getting damaged.)