*Review Contains Slight Spoiler But Does Not Ruin The Movie*

I constantly say im done with found footage films yet I always end up watching more, I dislike them about 80% of the time but for some reason I keep punishing myself.

"Evidence" seemed promising when I started it. Solid start, decent acting for this type of film, and a some what interesting plot. But then we dive into the "found footage" portion of the film which is a complete mess. Its basically just a jumble of scenes focused around people trapped at a old gas station getting murdered. This wouldn't be so bad if the camera didn't shake so much during all the good parts, preventing us from even really knowing whats going on.

The last 15 minutes is definitely the movies strong point, if the rest of the film would have been more like this I could have gotten on board a bit more. "Evidence" manages to pull off a 4/10 simply because of the finale.

Are we supposed to believe that they didn't know how many victims they had?

The problem with the plot is that this should have been much clearer to the investigators than it was to us, the viewers. But they're totally lost and manipulated. Well, would you say, the evidence was tampered with. OK, but when? When did they find the time to go through the process of editing it all? And given the number of survivors, 3 are we told, the viewing of the footage should certainly not have been given so much importance.

Nothing in this film makes sense.

The beginning, with the frozen scene is catchy. But the development, until the bus crash, is long and boring. Then, it gets a bit funnier, a bit more entertaining, but we're not seeing much of what's occurring and everything gets so confused that our pleasure is spoiled. It gets more annoying than interesting.

The ending is ridiculous and disappointing, but it fits the rest of this nonsensical and unrealistic narrative. Although somewhat entertaining at times, to the extent I was alluding to and not more, the sum total is an indigestible mess.

I usually put a 5 on films that are entertaining with reservations. But in this case, these reservations are too strong. The entire thing is badly conceived and irritating in the end. I feel generous giving it a 4.

Hard-nosed detective Alex Burquez (a fine and credible performance by Radha Mitchell) and scruffy forensics expert Daniel Reese (a sturdy portrayal by Stephen Moyer) work together to figure out what exactly happened pertaining to a massacre at an abandoned gas station using only surviving video footage as the lone piece of strong evidence.

Director Olatunde Osunsanmi relates the gripping story at a constant pace, generates a considerable amount of tension, and maintains a tough grim tone throughout. John Swetnam's crafty script not only makes neat use of the found footage premise, but also provides some stinging social commentary on fame and the media as well as a real doozy of a surprise twist ending.

Mitchell and Meyer spar with each other well; they receive sound support from Torrey DeVitto as perky aspiring actress Leann Hoodplatt, Caitlin Stasey as Leann's sweet wannabe filmmaker gal pal Rachel Brodi, Noland Gerard Funk as smitten musician Tyler Morris, Harry Lenix as gruff bus driver Ben Tuttle, Dale Dickey as cranky old bat Katrina Fleischman, Svetlana Metkina as eager dancer Vicki Makarova, and Barak Hardley as nerdy tech Gabe Wright. Moreover, the viewer really gets to know the victims as distinctive and highly relatable people, which makes what happens to them that much more horrible and upsetting. The brutal violence packs a jolting punch because it's more implied than explicitly shown. Lukas Ettlin's sharp and dynamic widescreen cinematography gives this film an extra invigorating kick. An effective little nail-biter.