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5. Home Movie (2008)
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Christopher Denham plays a researcher attacked by isopods in The Bay and also showed up two other great 2012 films, Argo and The Sound of My Voice. Before that, he directed this decidedly wicked but relatively discreet thriller that takes the idea of problematic kids and hapless parents and dials the sinister up to unbearable levels. Darkly comic and honestly disturbing, Home Movie follows a mild-mannered Presbyterian minister (Adrian Pasdar) and his wife (Cady Mcclain) who are at their wits end when it comes to their twin son and daughter, played by Austin and Amber Joy Williams. The less said about Home Movie's plot, the better, but its not too much of a spoiler to suggest that the twins are the unnerving centerpiece of the feature, although the camera itself develops into a kind of villain before the film concludes. As the twins bad behavior escalates--at one point they try to chew-up a classmate-- Mom and Dad find both psychology and religion poor allies in solving their bad seed issues. Denham shows a real knack for storytelling within the format, and this is another example where the constant presence of the camera (as a really intriguing unreliable narrator) adds some shadow and texture to a ghoulish, taunting horror ditty. The final scene is absolutely chilling, and not without its own jet-black sense of humor.