Project Almanac
2015 · Directed by Dean Israelite
Original language: English
- science fiction
- thriller
The story
A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.
What it’s like
Shaky handheld footage, camcorder and phone video stitched together with home-movie grain, flat fluorescent garage light, and the blue-white glow of laptop screens in dark bedrooms. The look is deliberately amateur: jump cuts, overlapping audio, teenagers talking over each other, and a constant sense that someone is holding the camera just out of frame. Sound is mostly diegetic, with a bright pop-rock soundtrack leaking in around the edges and the hum of machinery in the garage. The vibe is restless, giddy, and gradually uneasy, a sort of sun-bleached suburban excitement curdling into nerves. It suits a night in with the lights low, or a curious watch when you want something that feels like someone else's stolen tapes. The pacing is brisk early and frantic later, with a few quieter scenes between friends and a romance that stays tender and awkward. Intensity is moderate: peril and anxiety rather than gore, with some brief, sharp moments of injury and a few tense confrontations, but nothing sustained or graphic. It is for viewers who enjoy found-footage time-travel stories, a gentle-to-tense mix of youthful bond and rising dread, and who don't mind a shaky camera.
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