Open Windows (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial, the ABCs of Death)
	Actors: Sasha Grey (Sasha Grey's Anatomy), Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Maniac), Neil Maskell (Kill List)
	Country: USA, E, F
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 12.07.2014, Cinema Temple du Bas, NIFFF14
Synopsis: Nick Chambers (Wood) is webmaster of a fan blog about actress Jill Godard (Grey). After he is invited to meet her, his computer is hacked by a man who will give him access to Goddard's secrets, and will oblige him to start a chase to actually save her.
Review: I rather liked Nacho Vigalondo's previous movie Extraterrestrial, and the DVD of Timecrimes has been sitting on my shelf since I heard about him again in The ABCs of Death. Like many recent Horror movies, Open Windows belongs to the category of the found footage or hand-held camera movies, but its concept is original because everything we see in the movie is actually what is displayed on the computer screen of the main character. It is close to the concept of the Horror anthologies V/H/S and V/H/S 2, but this time used in a Thriller instead. The editing is very dynamic because the camera shifts constantly between the different open windows showing videos from mobile phone cameras, camcorders, security cameras, webcams, and computer disk listings, with sometimes a zoom back to the overall screen. This is quite fluent and very interesting, also because it helps telling a story that takes place in real-time without cuts between the shots, only travelling from one window to the other. Elijah Wood is still good in his reconversion post-LOTR, and the other main actress Sacha Grey is also reconverting but in her case from porn, which allows us to see some nudity we couldn't have with any other good-looking young actress. I can only criticize that several technological feats (like cameras reconstructing the volume in 3D) are unrealistic, but if you are not too concerned about such details you will find this Thriller interesting.
Rating: 7 /10