The Conspiracy (2012)

In July 2011, Aaron (Aaron Poole) and Jim (James Gilbert) are filming a documentary about local conspiracy theorist Terrance G. The man seems to be a newspaper-clipping recluse but there are plenty of people willing to agree. Everybody has their own crazy theory. Then Terrance disappears and Aaron becomes obsessed. They uncover a secret society called the Tarsus Club.I like the idea but I wish the filmmakers made more with the story. It's a low budget Toronto indie. It has some potential but it takes a bit too long with the paper clippings. There should be some men-in-black earlier. It needs to get from talking about conspiracy and dive into the conspiracy quicker. The hidden camera bit is more effective than I would have predicted but it lasts too long.

The Conspiracy is about exactly what the title suggests: conspiracies. From 9/11 to the New World Order to occult rituals between world leaders, The Conspiracy wraps it all up into one incredulous story that is documented as realistically as possible. Real footage is mixed in with false claims, blurring the lines of reality, and one of the lingering themes in the movie is the fact that it's easy to dismiss conspiracy theories but it's impossible to disprove them. It's a fantastic concept for a horror movie and it's executed as barebones as possible - we're on the journey with these reporters, and you better be ready for one hell of a ride.The first half is mainly setting the foundation for disbelievers. The cameramen begin as skeptics, then one of them starts to believe, then one of their contacts goes missing leading them to believe he was taken by the same syndicate they're researching, then they become even more determined to find the truth. It's similar to The X-Files in the searching for truth aspect, but it's far more dark and sinister. The syndicate here want the world to be run by one government, birthing the New World Order, and actual presidential speeches are cut together to make it as credible looking as it can be. No matter how skeptical you are, it's easy to get lost in the mindset of, "Hey, what if this were true..."I'm not going to spoil anything because the less you know the better. I will say that the third act is an absolute roller coaster, but the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. It's an exercise in the underground; the occult; the "what ifs". Some interviewees are masked in anonymity - blank faces and robotic voices - multiplying the creep factor by a hundred percent. Again, from the documentary-style filming to the expertly edited real footage, The Conspiracy blurs the lines between reality and fiction to the point of probability, and there's nothing scarier in horror than not knowing what is true and what isn't.

the movie was intriguing in the beginning since it was in the style of a documentary, but it all went downhill after Terrence went missing. the whole idea of invading the tarsus club was interesting but seemed unrealistic since they had no help at all and were only two guys invading a "top secret" society. after the author of the times article showed up, it would have been time for them to book it out of there, but they stuck around, which was also unrealistic to me. after the encounter with the man who asked Jim about his family, instead of running right out the door, he called his wife to check on her. obviously the society knew they were there and had already uncovered them, so why would he stay any longer? I overall hated the twist at the end where they were just trying to scare the men because it killed the mood of the movie, especially since Aaron had also gone missing and they played it off.

While the ending is where all the excitement is, the lead up is a slow 65 minutes of clichéd genre tropes. 'The Blair Witch Project' succeeded as a found footage, because it built up tension throughout the whole movie, and brought a harrowing and memorable ending; 'The Conspiracy' does neither of these. There are far better found footage movies out there (even though I am very anti-found footage), most notably 'Noroi: The Curse', 'The Blair Witch Project', 'V/H/S 2', 'Clover Field', and 'Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon'.Full Review at: http://www.simplefilmreviews.com/2014/07/the-conspiracy-2012_30.html