by: S. Scott Stanikmas

The Found Footage genre has been dying a slow death for a long time. It’s extremely overused and many times a lazy excuse to not show the action that the audience wants to see. Too much shaky cam and not enough pay off tend to burn the movie-going public. But every once in a while a movie comes along that reaffirms your faith that someone can get it right. For me that movie was Afflicted.

From Canadian filmmakers Derek Lee and Clif Prowse (who wrote, directed and starred in the movie), Afflicted tells the story of childhood friends Derek and Clif who are about to embark on a yearlong trip around the world. Derek suffers from a serious brain condition and Clif is a filmmaker who sees a chance to hang out with his friend and get some excellent footage shot. The duo plans to film the entire adventure and post it on a website blog. Early into the trip Derek is attacked by a woman he meets at a bar and takes back to his hotel room. Soon he’s exhibiting superhuman abilities like unnatural speed and incredible strength but is also growing weak and sick, sleeping all day and immediately vomiting whatever he eats.

After watching footage that Clif filmed of Derek licking someone’s blood off of his hand after attacking them the two friends deduce that Derek may be some kind of vampire. After trying animal blood to no avail, they realize that human blood may be the only thing to sate Derek’s hunger. After coming to terms with what he now is, Derek is on the search for answers to why he was turned into a monster and how he can possibly end this affliction for good.

Afflicted was an excellent take on the vampire genre. I liked how it treated vampirism as a disease that would eventually turn on its host and force them into a survival mode and make them feed. The scenes of Derek about to turn over into a feral beast were some of the scariest of the film. Even though it relied on some tried and tired tropes (camera pans back where there was no one but now there is someone) it was truly scary.

The special effects and makeup were outstanding. To see Derek’s hand sizzle and his skin peel and burn as he put it into sunlight was fascinating and gross all at the same time. And when Derek went full vampire it looked very cool. The gaunt look with veins close to the surface gave him an inhuman look. And having Clif be a super film geek with an array of apparatuses to hook cameras up (so as to get as many different shots as possible) was an excellent way around just having this be two guys holding a camera.

One of the things I didn’t like was Clif’s constant need to record everything. If my friend was a sick as Derek was I would have been hauling his ass to a hospital whether he wanted it or not. I wouldn’t be strapping cameras to him and asking him to run so I can clock how fast he can go. It seemed a little cold hearted to me.

While it doesn’t reinvent the Found Footage genre, this movie definitely gives it a much needed shot in the arm. A beautifully shot movie that gives us a new twist on an old favorite monster, Afflicted is a film worth seeing.