14 Cameras (Movie Review)

July 25th 2018, 10:00am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: While a family vacations at a country home, their every move is broadcast live on the internet by the property's lecherous landlord.

REVIEW: Two years ago, writer/director Victor Zarcoff introduced the world to a disgusting fellow named Gerald, a perverted creep very effectively brought to life by actor Neville Archambault, in his feature debut 13 CAMERAS. Now the sequel 14 CAMERAS has brought Gerald back in full force for a new round of spying on tenants through hidden cameras, sniffing panties, tasting toothbrushes, and keeping women captive. While Zarcoff provided the screenplay for the sequel, this time he handed the helm over to the directing duo of Seth Fuller and Scott Hussion, making their own feature debut.

Although it means having to spend more time with Gerald, there is an upside to getting a follow-up to 13 CAMERAS, as that film ended with one hell of a downbeat ending. 14 CAMERAS builds on that ending, obviously drawing inspiration from real life cases of women and children being held captive for unimaginably long periods of time, situations that are discovered by the authorities with a shocking frequency. Brianne Moncrief reprises the role of her 13 CAMERAS character Claire, and it was good to get a more in-depth resolution to her story than the end of the previous film provided.

Many of Moncrief's scenes are shared with Chelsea Edmundson, who plays another woman who has run afoul of Gerald. Edmundson has been racking up the genre credits over recent years, and she does a good job here of making her character Sarah someone we can root for, as she is determined to stand up to the elderly creep, who really needs to get his ass kicked by a strong woman like Sarah.

While tying up loose ends with Claire, the film also gives us more of Gerald being a voyeur. Last time he was spying on Claire and her husband in their California home, this time he has set up hidden cameras around a vacation property in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which gets rented by a family of four – Hank Rogerson and Lora Martinez-Cunningham as parents Arthur and Lori, Brytnee Ratledge and John-Paul Howard as their kids Molly and Kyle – and the daughter's friend from college, Amber Midthunder as Danielle. Zarcoff, Fuller, and Hussion were less interested in the parents than they were in the kids, Danielle in particular.

Danielle's wild child antics and determination to seduce Kyle may not be as interesting as the relationship drama that carried 13 CAMERAS, but they do keep Gerald entertained as he spies on his tenants from the comfort of his own home… and this time he's not the only one watching. Gerald is also streaming the footage live on the dark web, drawing in a surprising number of viewers, and this new level of his sickness brings about an interesting twist in the latter half of the film.

The first movie gradually built up what Gerald was capable of, but now that he has been established to be an abductor and a murderer, the sequel is able to be a bit more eventful than its predecessor, which earns it some points. Neither of these films are exactly pleasant to sit through, since Gerald is so gross and off-putting, but they both work in their own way. What the sequel lacks in story and character, it makes up for with some added thrills. It balances out in the end – both films are pretty much on the same level.

If you liked 13 CAMERAS, you will probably like 14 CAMERAS. You've got Gerald doing his thing all over again, and a welcome continuation of the Claire story. It's not entirely necessary to have seen 13 before watching the sequel, you'll still get the gist of what's going on, but you'll definitely get more out of watching 14 CAMERAS if you're already familiar with the Gerald and Claire characters going in.

I would recommend watching both of these films; they're well worth checking out, if you can stomach Gerald for that long.