POLAROID (2019) **

Polaroid is yet another variation on The Ring.  This time, instead of people being murdered by a vengeful entity after watching a cursed videotape, they are murdered by a vengeful entity after having their picture taken by a cursed Polaroid camera.  As far as these things go, it’s far from the worst Ring rip-off I’ve seen.  (It’s certainly more entertaining than either the Japanese original or the American remake.)  However, it’s not a patch on Fear Dot Com, the G.O.A.T. of Ring retreads.

While Polaroid is a notch or two better than your average lame PG-13 horror flick, it’s still essentially a lame PG-13 horror flick.  By that, I mean most of the deaths are tame and the monster looks shitty.  (He often looks like a guy wearing a fucking sheet.)  Also, the premise kind of feels like an extended Goosebumps episode.  You also have to deal with a handful of scenes that are so bathed in darkness that it’s hard to make out what the hell is happening. 

What keeps Polaroid from slipping down to the bottom rungs of the PG-13 horror ladder is the lead performance by Kathryn Prescott.  Her character, Bird is a quirky, sarcastic loner who is immensely likeable and someone you actually give a shit about, which is a rarity it seems in the genre these days.  Director Lars Klevberg (who went on to direct the Child’s Play remake) delivers the goods during scenes where the teens are harmed whenever their pictures are defaced.  He gives us a solid fire attack scene and the part where a guy is ripped in half pushes the boundaries of the PG-13 rating.  These little moments aren’t enough to completely save the movie, but they help keep your interest from waning. 

Polaroid had a long road to release.  It was pulled from the Dimension slate after the whole Harvey Weinstein debacle and sat on the shelf for two whole years until it wound up premiering on Netflix.  While it’s not great by any means, it probably deserved a better fate.