Afflicted (2013)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by emmakwall

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‘Afflicted’ – decent Netflix horror film alert!

Afflicted is a 2013 found-footage horror film. It’s pretty low budget – one of those films where the actors are friends with the director and they use their real first names. In this case the directors, writers and lead actors are the same two guys – Derek Lee and Clif Prowse. And let’s start this on a positive note by saying truthfully – they did a good job.

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Don’t let the found-footage or low budge thing put you off – Afflicted was definitely a good movie and I enjoyed it. The story centres around an American guy called Derek and his best friend Clif (see, I told you) who are embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world. We find out that Derek has just been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and is subsequently taking a ‘grab life by the horns’ kind of outlook.

Unfortunately, not that long into their journey Derek kisses the wrong girl in a Parisian nightclub (sounds like the title of an indie song) and after spending the night together begins to find strange injuries on his body that lead to a life-changing transformation. And he begins turning into something rather unpleasant.

I liked this film. I liked it from the moment it started playing. Though it’s found-footage style (usually an Alarm Bell), it is well-made found-footage. Luckily for us, Clif the Best Friend is a documentary maker and one of the goals for their trip is to make ‘The Best Travel Blog Ever’ so there is some semblance of good filming and editing in the footage. It’s actually fun to watch and I liked both guys immediately – they were normal, nice people and I even laughed at some of their jokes.

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At the beginning of the film, which has a very short run-time by the way – around 85 minutes, I had to keep reminding myself I was watching a horror. It felt more like a life-affirming documentary, showing how people like Derek ‘never give up’ in the face of adversity. There are interviews, captions, fun music – I almost didn’t want anything bad to happen and I usually hate shit like that.

It kinda made me feel like I do when I watch The Fly and I really want a happy ending for Seth and Veronica instead of the all gore, maggot babies and protruding wrist bones.

Happily though, when the scary shit does kick in that’s a lot of fun to watch too. It was a pretty jumpy film and genuinely spooky, tense AND rather uncomfortable to watch in places. And because I did like the characters, unbelievably I actually cared about what happened to Derek. It seemed kind of a shitty thing to have happened after he’d already had a pretty shitty time.

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Of course it’s not perfect, but what film is? As the story progressed there were some scenes that didn’t flow quite as nicely as what they could, some questions left unanswered maybe – but I’m not going to split hairs when I enjoyed it. There are bits that are are slightly ‘unrealistic’ or ‘not what would have happened’ perhaps but a lot of that kind of stuff comes down to opinion anyway.

The small budget doesn’t let down the special effects which I thought were pretty good also, not to mention creepy. It’s all rather a slow process for Derek – though happily not for the audience – because as the title suggests, his icky transformation plays out like a disease.

At first Derek notices more ‘subtle’ changes such as super strength and an aversion to sunlight and spaghetti (gooooood scene – gross), but as the film goes on, the physical changes become more apparent.

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All in all I would recommend this film. I watched it on Netflix so if you’re a card-carrying member as well – you’d be silly not to. I found it original, refreshing and a lot of fun. I also jumped a lot and did that thing where you let your eyes go all blurry just in case something scary happens so you can’t quite see it properly (or is that just me?).

About emmakwall

Films, books, soundtracks, good humour
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94 Responses to Afflicted (2013)

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  1. Mel @ The Creative Fox Den says:
    April 29, 2015 at 17:12

    I met these guys and talked to them about filming and they are amazing!! I worked at TIFF in 2013 and these guys were honestly the nicest people. And I love this movie too!

    Liked by 1 person

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  2. Jordan Dodd says:
    April 29, 2015 at 11:19

    Doesn’t sound like my kinda thang – I hate jump scare movies – but a really well written post Em 🙂 I do like the sound of a -good- found footage film though, is this out on DVD?

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    • emmakwall says:
      April 29, 2015 at 12:34

      Oh thanks Jordan you are so kind to me!!!!

      It is out on dvd yes, about a fiver on UK amazon. I did find it pretty jumpy I must say but if you did decide to watch it I hope you would still enjoy it 🙂

      Ball of awesome-ness!!!!

      Like

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  3. mikeyb @ screenkicker says:
    April 29, 2015 at 07:32

    ‘did that thing where you let your eyes go all blurry just in case something scary happens so you can’t quite see it properly (or is that just me?)’

    Yes, thats just you!

    I was wanting a subplot where Clif went on a search to find the missing ‘F’ in his name.

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    • emmakwall says:
      April 29, 2015 at 08:53

      Haha I thought it might be 🙂

      That missing “F” bugs me too Mikey! I wrote it as Cliff (i.e the CORRECT way) before i saw the spelling on the IMDB.

      🙂

      Like

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  4. By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff says:
    April 29, 2015 at 00:27

    Stellar review Ems! I saw this on Netflii and was going yo skip it, but I think I’ll give it a go 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. inspired4business says:
    April 28, 2015 at 17:17

    Hey, nice review.

    I think this has got to go on the list Emma 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. beetleypete says:
    April 28, 2015 at 17:03

    I actually quite like some of the ‘found footage’ films, so this isn’t a problem for me. This sounds good, based on your review at least, and as I don’t have Netflix, I will have to wait for the DVD. ( Currently only £5.50 on Amazon!)
    Thanks Emma. Best wishes, Pete.

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  7. theipc says:
    April 28, 2015 at 16:22

    Clam!!!

    You make this sound good but I’ve been so put off by the trailer….. maybe I’ll give it a look sometime : ) I noticed in my Netflx queue yesterday that those The Raid movies are coming my way soon : )

    Love Pen!!

    xxxxxxxxxxxx

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  8. vinnieh says:
    April 28, 2015 at 16:08

    Cool review Emma, you always review such interesting movies.

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. The Telltale Mind says:
    April 28, 2015 at 16:04

    Sounds good and I like found footage films and I have Netflix so I suppose I will have to give this a watch. Cheers on the review!

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Ryan says:
    April 28, 2015 at 15:55

    The fact that this is found footage has made this one really hard for me to watch, despite hearing so many great things. Nice review, though, glad it didn’t disappoint!

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    • emmakwall says:
      April 28, 2015 at 15:57

      Please do watch it Ryan! I’m not a fan of found-footage either but like I said in the review, the ‘best friend’ character who does all the filming, is actually a documentary maker – in the film. So it’s not shit to watch, it looks decent! I mean yeah towards the end a TAD of suspension belief is necessary but I still really liked it 🙂 more than a lot of other films I’ve watched recently.

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      • Ryan says:
        April 28, 2015 at 16:41

        Yeah, the documentary angle works for me actually. The Sacrament was shot the same way and I loved that movie. It’s much more believable when it doesn’t look like the filmed the movie with a potato 🙂

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        • emmakwall says:
          April 29, 2015 at 08:59

          Definitely! I mean I’m all for ‘authentic’ but not when you can’t see much haha.

          ONE thing i will say is that towards the end the filming does get more out of hand. Not in a visual way but more in a ‘who is holding the camera now?!’ way. But never mind 🙂

          Don’t watch this on a sunny day though. Some bits were pretty dark (literally) and highlighted my bad dusting on the TV!

          I’ll have to check out The Sacrament 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

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      • GaryGreg828 says:
        May 3, 2015 at 22:56

        Definitely check out “The Sacrament”. It’s not the best horror movie around, but I liked the tense build-up that leads to an insane final act that’s actually inspired from a true story, which makes this movie truly horrifying and worth a watch.

        Liked by 1 person

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    • GaryGreg828 says:
      May 3, 2015 at 22:58

      Ryan, I’ve seen “Afflicted” and I think it’s your kind of movie. I’m actually surprised you haven’t seen it. Seems right up your alley.

      Liked by 1 person

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