The Changing of Ben Moore (2015) HD online

Ben has been acting strange lately. He's not eating and his brother who lives with him and his wife discover he is sleep walking around at night with no memory. His brother is worried so he decides to document the case to show a doctor (or maybe an exorcist) He catches him killing the neighbors cat in the middle of the night. When he confronts Ben, he is shocked at the footage. Soon half dead bodies are being discovered in their neighborhood. Is Ben loosing is his mind or is something more sinister happening?

Ever since the Blair Witch Project and the widespread availability of video taping devices horror fans have been accursed with Point of View films that not only are used as a way to make movies cheaper but limit the scope of the narrative of the movie to one of these devices. Many times in this movie Ben screams at his brother "Are you filming this? Why are you (bleep expletive) filming this!!!" and I certainly found myself wondering the same thing. Every moment captured by the camcorder is convenient, and contrived. It's also convenient that when Ben or his brother review what's been recorded the next day they only reveal what happens in the beginning of the film. Suddenly a shift occurs and Ben doesn't mention it again.

The dialogue is forced and the at one point the viewer may witness the sheriff actually reading his lines from his notepad. Umberto Celisano, who plays Ben however nails the creepy factor as he wanders the house in the midnight hour in a trance. The way his eyes begin to change as the film progresses is haunting. The video being recorded gets more grainy in these parts, adding to the effect and manages not to be too gimmicky, quite an impressive feat. Those two things are the only reason the film deserves a D+ and not a Turkey (as Leonard Maltin would say)

Overall this film is for die-hard horror fans only and maybe fans of POV horror (if such a thing exists). The plot is very predictable. It plays out exactly how one would expect it to and this is would be frustrating for the non-horror aficionado.

Alan Bannacheck

Two guys live together. Ben isn't doing well. He sleepwalks, and scares the crap out of his roommate/brother. He doesn't remember anything the next day. So the brother decides to film the nighttime activities. Ben's girlfriend is snarky and sarcastic and doesn't think there's anything worth filming. Some other throw away people revolve around Ben and his issues.

Then the killing starts. The first to go is a cat. Next is Milo, Ben's dog. That's the only death I'm sad about. Then comes the death of 'the Grinch', an old man that lives a few houses away. Then the girlfriend, and I was glad that she bit the big one. She sucked so very badly. Horrible, horrible acting. She almost could've phoned it in, she was so unenthusiastic. Then John dies (one of the throw aways), the brother is chased out of the house but comes back with the token African American, who bites it before the brother is finally killed.

The guy who played Ben was okay. He did confused and conflicted rather well. The rest of the cast was either annoying or monotonous. No real standouts in the characters, and the 'creepy' stuff was standard demon possession fare. The priest was worthless; he was completely superfluous to the plot because he was never used again. A completely purposeless character. The cop was reading his lines from his little notebook. Quite ridiculously humorous, but not in a good way.

THE CHANGING OF BEN MOORE is another found footage horror movie made as a direct copy of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Once again the narrative concerns a young couple living together whose relationship begins to suffer when they encounter odd noises and weird events in the middle of the night. Even worse, the guy becomes convinced that he's beginning to change, somehow...

Believe me when I tell you that there's nothing here that you haven't seen done better before. The daytime scenes tread water and the night-time scenes try hard to be scary but are just way too familiar. There's some brief effective demon make-up but you only really see that right at the end and it's a long slog to get there. Only true devotees of the found footage genre, the type who will enjoy anything regardless of quality, will enjoy this one.

The story is a nicely constructed slice of self-discovery that morphs into horror actualized. It is a journey that seems to be taken lightly by both the main character and his friends. All of which is told through video dairy clips. Ben and his friends spend the majority of the time bouncing back from freaked-out concern to "party" mode during the course of the events. Luckily for us "The Changing Of Ben" is a total existential experience because it would just be too much melodrama and time filler. Mills brings in a "predator-prey" component which really sells the horror elements of the story. Most of which is given by a cast that has committed to their characters. Some of the line delivery and scenes fall a bit flat for a moment but I never lost complete interest, or lost the connection with the story.

The special effects are pretty standard affair for a film of this budget. The creature effects used for the metamorphosis moments of Ben's transformation work nicely for what they were. Budget size really isn't an obstacle if conviction and creativity are involved. And Jason Mills and his team obviously know that because I found those moments convincing. The other special effects used are the camera gimmicks associated with the found footage subgenre, and the gore is a blend of CGI and practical effects. Mostly the film builds its chills and suspense with the drama and heightened emotional state of the characters. Sometimes it works, other times not so much. Still all things considered there are some really cool, creepy moments in "The Changing Of Ben", and Jason Mills is methodical, conscientious, and decisive when it comes to making sure that the story, and his vision is delivered from start to finish. Overall I was impressed with this one. It is a bit mediocre on the horror side, and kind of text book as far as style of found footage that it is, but there is some nice character development, creepy atmospheric moments, a little comic relief, and nice special effects and creature makeup in "The Changing Of Ben".