Polaroid, A Review

Once you take it, it takes you.

Polaroid follows shy high school student Bird Fitcher (Kathryn Prescott, Tell Me a Story) who is gifted an antique polaroid camera by her coworker Tyler (Davi Santos, Tell Me a Story). Bird snaps a picture of Tyler but quickly leaves after he attempts to kiss her. Later that night Bird is forced into attending a party with her friend Kasey (Samantha Logan, 13 Reasons Why) and couple Devin (Keenan Tracey) and Mina (Priscilla Quintana). At the party Bird begins talking to her crush Connor (Tyler Young), in an attempt to impress him she shows off her new camera and snaps a picture of the group, party host Avery (Katie Stevens, The Bold Type) also uses the camera to take a selfie. The police then arrive at the party to inform Bird that Tyler has been found dead, feeling saddened she returns home. The next day, Kasey frantically tells Bird that Avery has also died.

Looking at the polaroids she had taken, Bird notices a smudge that seems to have moved from Tyler’s picture to Avery’s and then to the group shot. Realising that everybody in the polaroid ends up dead, Bird attempts to first destroy the camera and then the picture itself. Both attempts fail and an entity begins picking off the group one by one. Can Bird figure out how to stop the haunted camera before it’s too late? Or will all of her friends suffer the same horrible fate?

Polaroid was a fun and overall enjoyable film to watch, the premise and idea behind the haunted camera was intriuging and I liked the characters and execution of the story. Bird was a likeable protagonist- it didn’t hurt that I love Kathryn Prescott- and she was able to hold her own against the entity. The backstory to the camera was intetesting and I liked the film’s conclusion, a fun horror to watch on a rainy day.

Horror films with haunted or possesed objects are slowly becoming more and more popular and I liked how Polaroid used the camera as the ‘object of horror’. For the most part people can’t resist joining in on a group picture and that’s exactly why this film works. By taking something that people enjoy doing and making it deadly, well you’ve got yourself a horror film. Whether it be phone apps, games or now cameras, giving ordinary objects the power to kill make for an intriuging and creepy viewing.

I liked how, alongside the haunted camera, the entity itself and those pictured in the polaroids behaved like photographs themselves. The entity being sensitive to heat and light was a clever move, it gave the creature a weakness and a way to defeat it. I also liked how those pictured reacted to any destruction if the polaroid- eg when Devin attenpted to burn the picture, Mina’s arm caught fire. The film had a set of rules it stuck to and I liked how it used photographs in many different ways. The writing was clever and it meant the characters actually had to work out what was going on rather than just get rid of the camera and polaroids.

In a few of my recent horror movie reviews (eg Truth or Dare, Countdown) I’ve talked about how the films leave the endings open for a possible sequel, this is definitely not the case in Polaroid. The film ends with Bird defeating the entity and then throwing the camera into a lake, so that nobody can ever find it again. I liked this very definite ending, in so many horror films the characters often make stupid decisions that leave the plot very open ended, but here Bird ensures that nobody will ever be killed by the camera again. I really liked the logic behind Bird’s decision and the very final ending- it showcased a very smart character not seen in a lot of horrors.

Overall, Polaroid was a fun and enjoyable film. The haunted object genre is slowly becoming more and more popular and I liked how the film played around with the physicalities of the camera and the polaroid. The premise was an interesting one and I enjoyed the characters and the very definite ending, an overall creepy watch.