Retail Price: $24.95

Reviewed by:

Ian Jane on March 2, 2003

The film starts on Rebecca’s 21^st birthday, which she’s spending chatting with her boyfriend John on their new web cams that he’s bought so that they can stay in touch while she’s out of town at University in Collingswood, New Jersey. 

The couple spend some time clowning around online together until John decides that they should visit an online psychic named Vera Madeline, who when she encounters Rebecca tells her that she’s very perceptive and sensitive to certain issues and that she needs to talk to her some more. Rebecca gets weirded out by Vera and hangs up on her, but when John dials back in he finds that there’s a history of murder surrounding the town and, in particular, the house that Rebecca is renting a room in, that dates back centuries. 

As it happens, there’s been a cult based in the town for awhile now and from time to time its members have killed quite a few people over time, in some grisly ritualistic practices. Most recently, a few years back a Judge drowned his wife and two kids and then killed himself, right in Rebecca’s bathroom. 

Rebecca sets out to investigate things on her end and does some snooping around the house and the town while John does his best to talk to Vera and find out more online, where she reveals to him that Rebecca is in some serious danger and may already be under the influence of some very evil spirits and that he needs to stay far away, but John obviously wants to help her and won’t have any of that. Things get intensely freaky from here on in. 

Seeing as the web cam is the way the two lead characters communicate, that’s how 99% of the movie is presented. I was a little apprehensive at first, as the beginning of the movie is a bit cheesy and some of the dialogue is somewhat stilted and awkward, but once you make it through the first half, the movie really picks up and I’m not ashamed to admit that the last half hour of the film scared the crap out of me. 

At times a bit derivative of the Blair With Project (and to a lesser extent, The Ring), with its POV camera work and ‘reality show’ feel via the streaming video that, I’m sure, not only kept the films budget low, but also gave it a engrossing quality that really pulls you in towards the finale. The Collingswood Story is definitely worth checking out.

Included on the DVD as supplements are a trailer, production notes, and some cast and crew biographies. Too bad there was no commentary included, as I bet it would have been interesting.