Director: Carles Torrens
Writer: Rodrigo Cortes (Screenplay)
Starring: Francesc Garrido, Fiona Glascott, Rick Gonzalez, Kai Lennox, Gia Mantegna, Michael O’Keefe
Plot: A team of parapsychologists try to figure out a strange phenomenon occurring in an apartment building.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Nicely Done
Story: Apartment 143 starts as we meet our parapsychologist team of Dr Helzer (O’Keefe), Ellen Keegan (Glascott) and cameraman Paul Ortega (Gonzalez) as they head to the White residents of Alan (Lennox), Caitlin (Mantegna) and Benny (Roman) for their latest case. We hear the White’s story of their haunting which included moving house to escape it.
With the day together running smoothly with nothing going on the first night together the team get to experience the paranormal activity first hand as they start gathering evidence. As the nights pass the haunting become more dangerous as we learn the true identity of the ghost haunting the family.
Apartment 143 gives us something very different when it comes to the found footage horror, granted we only go down the same street we do get a more realistic look at paranormal. We get to look at how a scientist makes everything look like a human issue rather than just a ghost haunting which I did like but then we get plenty that went unexplained with the ghost encounters. I also liked how this ended up making us feel like it was just another episode of their show not about the actors. This isn’t great but better than a lot of the paranormal found footage films.
Actor Review
Michael O’Keefe: Dr Helzer is the scientist leading the team’s investigation, he always likes to see something before suggestion the paranormal making him the skeptic of the group. Michael is good but nothing stand-out in this role.
Fiona Glascott: Ellen Keegan is another member of the team, she takes the photos, conducts the interviews and works with Paul to look for any potential activity. Fiona is solid in this role coming off as part of the team well.
Rick Gonzalez: Paul Ortega is the technician on the team, he sets up the cameras while watches them and films each part of the investigation. He is the reason why we have to watch through the moments of shaky cam. Rick is solid without doing anything extra in this role.
Kai Lennox: Alan White is the father of the victim’s family, he is a widower that is trying to keep his two children safe but as the story unfolds we find out he might not be everything we believe he is. Kai is good again just not getting enough time to b memorable.
Support Cast: Apartment 143 only has a couple more cast members who do a good job with what they need to do.
Director Review: Carles Torrens – Carles does a good job but I feel the final scene is extremely cheap scare tactic that takes away what the film has created.
Horror: Apartment 143 has good horror elements throughout that do achieve a few good scares.
Thriller: Apartment 143 does keep us wondering into where the story would go next.
Settings: Apartment 143 keeps nearly all of the story inside the apartment showing us how the problems have been hitting this family.
Special Effects: Apartment 143 has good effects when needed but let’s most of the story play on our minds.
Suggestion: Apartment 143 is one for the horror fans to try but don’t expect the best. (Try It)
Best Part: Balancing the paranormal with human side to what is going on.
Worst Part: Final moment.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
Tagline: The First Real Ghost Story
Overall: Solid horror that does a have a few ups and downs.
Rating
