By: Peter J Mellini

Although the last few years has been filled with tons of “found footage” style features and most of them implement the same gimmicks, first time feature director Josh Trank has changed the genre with Chronicle.

The story is pretty straight forward; three high school students find this weird hole in the middle of a field and decide to investigate on camera. Once inside they find a deep tunnel that leads to strange crystal like construct that gives off this loud sound that pulsates through the air. Curiosity gets the better of them as they proceed to touch the strange crystal, which activates it and causes a freak occurrence that shorts out the camera.

Some time has passed and a new camera purchased we find the three friends practicing and attempting to master their new telepathic powers.   Being of the YouTube generation the guys proceed use their powers for pranks, first among themselves and then on the general public.

The story quickly shifts to troubled loner Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) as the pressures of constant bullying in school, his mother’s declining health, and an abusive father, finally pushes him to an AKIRA style rampage through the streets of Seattle.

Writer Max Landis has taken the classic superhero origin archetype and flipped it on its ear. His realistic portray of high school student with super powers is far from their comic book counter parts. Although events later on in the film eventually installs the morality of “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”, early on our super powered teens just want to have fun. Little things like the guys mentioning how cold it is high in they sky when they learn to fly shows Landis’ attention to detail and adds a lot of realism to this otherwise surreal film.

Director Josh Trank’s breaks all the rules of a traditional “found footage” feature by incorporating other pieces of footage, such as security feeds and witnesses using mobile devices, which adds to the realism and suspense of the movie. As Andrew’s powers grow stronger he is able to unconsciously float the camera around himself, which gives Trank the ability to feature more traditional storytelling camera movements not seen in any found footage film.

Although this story isn’t new and very much in the vain of the Stephen King classic Carrie, Landis and Trank give us a fresh and innovated take on it and create an exciting and suspenseful film.