Review: The 16th Episode

Director: Jérôme Cohen-Olivar

Screenplay: Jérôme Cohen-Olivar

Year: 2019

Synopsis: A group of friends seeks to immerse themselves in different cultures to create content for their popular Youtube channel. Trying to improve their amount of views they travel to Casablanca, Morocco to record their next episode. There they encounter more dangerous stuff than what they thought and must face supernatural forces not just to create interesting material for their channel, but to save their lives.

"The 16th Episode" is a movie that blends the found footage and demonic possession genres. In it, three YouTubers travel to Casablanca Morocco to record a new episode for their channel and they find more than they wanted. This movie was actually recorded in Casablanca, which helps it a lot into feeling more realistic and producing impressive scenographies. 

No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to ignore the problems of this movie. Many of these make it look like an unfinished and sloppy product that creates frustration in the viewer, especially in those that like the idea of the plot and want to get into it. What most affects the progress and enjoyment of the story is a mix between the script and the editing process. I say it is a mix because it is hard to point out if the script was thought of this way if it were decisions made during editing or limitations while filming. What we can see is that the story is very inconsistent, hopping between ideas and styles. 

"The 16th Episode" starts as a found footage style movie and the references to iconic horror movies of this genre are soon to be brought up. Quickly they start using a combination of found footage and the conventional third person recording styles, and as the movie progresses the former is used less and less. They continue to reference this style of recording using meta-comedy and this leads to some comedy parts that are pretty good, but problematic at the same time.

This comedy parts are thought of as to relieve tension and each is effective on being funny. The problem I found with these comedy parts is that most feel forced and there is no development for them, once again illustrating the inconsistencies of the movie. 

The acting is not exempt from inconsistencies. The main cast composed of Aouatefe Lahmani ("Amal"),  Einar Kuusk ("Chasing Ponies"), and Cody Heuer ("The Shoe") in general do a great job but there are parts in which their acting is weak. Again, this is something that is hard to point out if is something done on purpose, if it is a problem of defective dialogues and interactions in the script or if it is because of the actors. 

Ignoring the discussed inconsistencies, for me, this movie was a good idea that suffered from sloppy execution. The horror scenes, as well as the comedy scenes, are entertaining and it is a shame that they were not better tied together. The practical effects used in the possession parts of the movie are good and the twists, particularly those at the end, are unexpected and shocking. A little more care in the production would have greatly helped this movie to find its identity and have a generally better product.