Let’s Scare Julie (Movie Review)

PLOT: When a group of teen girls try to prank a neighbor, they end up unleashing a vengeful supernatural entity.

REVIEW: LET'S SCARE JULIE (watch it HERE) is a film that was shot entirely in one continuous take, making it quite an impressive achievement for the cast and crew. The crew kept the production running smoothly and had everything in place so the whole movie could be shot in an 85 minute take, while the cast were able to fully inhabit their characters, deliver their dialogue, and reach (and sustain) heightened states of emotion without stopping. Writer/director Jud Cremata made his feature debut with this film, but he has been racking up credits in the entertainment industry for over thirty years at this point, and those decades of experience were surely a great benefit when he dove into this project. 

However, the finished 83 minute film is not presented as being one continuous take. There are several clear edit points, including one shot that was either an insert filmed later or an image that was zoomed in on in post. It's unfortunate that the decision was made to make some cuts after the fact, because it takes away from the achievement a bit. Yes, the cast and crew did still manage to pull this off, that's awesome, but the cuts will cause some viewers to doubt that the movie really was completely shot in one take. Apparently it was actually filmed four times, with cast and crew reporting to set and knocking out the full feature on four separate nights. 

The ambitious choice to shoot the film in one take is the main selling point, and the dedication and proficiency displayed by everyone involved as they made a one-take movie happen is mainly what makes it worth checking out. Even if it turned out poorly, this sort of thing would be worth watching just as a curiosity. But thankfully, Cremata and his collaborators used the one take gimmick to bring us a decent movie.

The story centers on a group of teenage girls; Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson as recently orphaned outsider Emma, Isabel May as Emma's cousin Taylor, and Odessa Adlon/A'zion, Brooke Sorenson, and Jessica Sarah Flaum as Taylor's prank-loving, troublemaking friends Madison, Jess, and Paige. Emma's seven-year-old sister Lilly (Dakota Baccelli) also gets mixed up in the mess that the teens end up causing. Every member of the cast does well in bringing their characters to life, and there was clearly a lot of improv in the scenes of the teens interacting with each other. It certainly makes those moments feel authentic. Johnson proves to be a good heroine type, and basically carries the film on her shoulders because the camera is anchored to Emma for the duration. Each cast member makes an impression, but the standout among Emma's peers may be A'zion, mainly because she is clearly putting a lot of effort into making Madison stand out. She attacks every moment with a lot of energy, always bouncing around, being a pain, and putting on goofy voices.

The night these girls spend together begins to fall apart when Madison, Jess, and Paige learn that a teenage girl has just moved into the house across the street from Taylor's place – and that the neighbor's house used to be home to a reclusive old lady who may have been into the supernatural. An acquaintance of Taylor's even disappeared after getting a look at the old lady one day. Taylor and her pals decide to welcome this new girl – the Julie of the title – to the neighborhood by putting on masks, going across the street, entering Julie's house with the use of a key that happens to be in their possession, and scaring the hell out of the poor girl. You may be wondering, "How could a plan to enter someone's home without permission while wearing masks possibly go wrong?", but things do indeed go very wrong.

When it comes to action, LET'S SCARE JULIE was held back by the shooting style. There's a lot of hearing about scary things without actually being shown these things, because what we don't see is supposed to be more unnerving than if we did see it. There's a great deal of build-up without much in the way of payoff, which is always unfortunate, and there's an odd moment with Emma's uncle / Taylor's dad that didn't feel entirely necessary. Still, I was on board with what the movie was showing me for the most part and I was invested in seeing how it was all going to play out.

LET'S SCARE JULIE is a fine way to spend 83 minutes. Viewers likely to get the most out of sitting through it would be those who are interested in seeing how the one take approach worked, and young adults in the same age range as the characters.

Shout! Studios is giving LET'S SCARE JULIE a Digital and On Demand release on October 2nd.