The Dead Should Stay Dead – Jeruzalem Review

Directed by: Doron and Yoav Paz (as The PAZ Brothers)

Written by: Doron and Yoav Paz (as The PAZ Brothers)

Starring: Yael Grobglas, Danielle Jadelyn, Yon Tumarkin, Tom Graziani, 

Released: January 22nd, 2016

Technology is ingrained in our culture. From the time you blink sleep out of your eyes to the moment you rest your tired soul for the day—and just about every second in between—technology is the focal point of our existence. In a way, we orbit around technology, a gravitational pull rotating us around our devices. While I’m clickity-clackiting away, typing this review on my MacBook, you’re probably reading this on your iPhone or Galaxy. We eat, breathe, sleep, and live technology. (Figuratively speaking, of course. Unless you’re a robot—in which case, God help us all.) It is no surprise that films are starting to incorporate our real life structure into their fictional imaginings—such is the case with The Paz Brothers’ thriller Jeruzalem. Taking the lo-fi aesthetic of the “found footage horror/thriller” genre and giving it an HD coating, Jeruzalem looks to ground its fictionality in reality. Sadly, Jeruzelam fails to be as suspenseful as a thriller and as compelling as other found footage films.

Jeruzalem starts with Howard Pullman (played by Howard Rypp) giving Sarah (played by Danielle Jadelyn), his daughter and central character of the film, Google Glass. There’s no explanation for this gift; the audience is led to believe Sarah is a good student in school. The only indication of this is the bright pink Jansport she carries on her person; it is later revealed the backpack is packed for a capricious trip with her friend, Rachel Klein (played by Yael Grobglas). Much like the Google Glass gift, there’s no explanation for the reason of the trip other than “we’re wild and young and beautiful and free”—or something like that. After receiving this expensive gift from her father, Sarah has an emotional moment: she recalls her deceased brother and descends his room to visit him. Unable to stomach the pain of her late brother, she retreats to the bathroom to find some solace before embarking on an inexplicable trip with Rachel. From there, these two Americans travel from their hometown in the United States to the Middle Eastern city of Israel because why not. From the moment Rachel and Sarah land in Israel—and even before then—the audience is treated to biblical terrors of Hell cracking open beneath the world, something reminiscent of “The Book of Revelation.” (Not that I’m familiar with The Bible or anything.) (Okay, I am.)

There are many ways how a found footage film could work, but one reason is the believability of the documentary-styled footage. The first Paranormal Activity worked because the recordings of the film were somewhat convincing: people have access to a camera of some sort, and can set up points to record anything. Cloverfield worked because it used security tapes from the United States Department of Defenses as its conceit: it led us to believe there was some kind of experiment happening in the State’s Defense department, which is evocative and intriguing. Jeruzalem takes this found footage trope and gives it plastic surgery, pumping out a more technologically advanced, hi-fi, yet incompetent found footage film. While Google Glass is an enthralling idea to do a found footage film with, its execution falls woefully short of realistic. Because the audience sees the film through the lenses of Google Glass and not the perspective of Sarah Pullman—which is important to differentiate here—everything comes in at the same volume. Meaning, the world happening through the lenses and the music emitting from the non-existent Google Glass earphones are equal to each other, which doesn’t make any sense—and this happens several times throughout the film’s approximate 90-minute runtime. In addition to the nonsensical design of Google Glass, there are a plethora of moments were the sound mix will become muffled, as if underwater or buried underneath a pillow. This doesn’t fit the design of Google Glass: there is never a moment where sound will muffle because Google Glass is, you guessed it, are pair of glasses. The last time I checked, there is no microphone attached to the device. Though innovative and refreshing in its approach, the inconsistency with the actual technology of Google Glass leaves far too many plot holes for it to be enjoyable for long.

Although the realization of Google Glass may not have panned out well, the location is stunning. There are plenty of gorgeous vistas and beautiful cityscapes to gaze upon; thanks to Google Glass—and the first-person perspective The Paz Brothers decided to go with—it feels as if the audience is transported to the city of Israel. The sun breaks through the wooden blinds, creating immaculate rays of light and dark. The colors are vivid and accurate, further enhancing the realism of the film’s location. The cinematography is decent enough to compliment the sheer sensationalism of being engulfed in such an astonishing locale. For as glitzy and glamorous as Jeruzalem looks, there are a myriad of sombre, macabre shots in the film to juxtapose the sweet and shimmering moments. When exposed to the perturbing terrors of Hell—whatever they are called, since they aren’t given an explicit name—Jerusalem profusely displays its grit like a professional bodybuilder flexing after lifting. It’s difficult admitting the film does something adequately, but the veritable ferocity of the gore and off-putting junctures can be breathtaking, which can be both good and bad.

But, of course, more bad than good. The performances are lackluster at best, deplorable at worst. From the incessant accent change of Kevin Reed (played by Yon Tumarkin) to the temperamental hotel owner, Jeruzalem stumbles upon itself like a child learning to walk. Rachel’s character is sunny and glimmering and vibrant, but obnoxiously so. Sarah’s character is smart and cautious and unsure, but naive and malleable. Kevin’s character is astute and impulsive and benign, but breaks his character far too often, showcasing his acting flaws and the deficiencies within the script. Omar (played by Tom Graziani) is cordial and a little sarcastic and negligent, but doesn’t seem to have any enthusiasm in his delivery. In fact, none of the characters seem to act with conviction, each delivering their lines with the brackishness only seen in some of the most horrific films like Amir Shervan’s Samurai Cop or Vic Armstrong’s Left Behind. The bravura of Jerusalem‘s actors are deadpanned, lacking any sort of vitality; not even a necromancer can bring these performances back to life, let alone God.

A lot of these wooden performances could be alleviated by a stronger, more coherent script, and more scrupulous directing. Sadly, the script is egregious, haphazardly put together like an amateur surgeon attempting his first operation. From unexplained events to floundering dialogue, the writing here is appalling; there is a line like—cue the paraphrasing—”you’re so beautiful and so stupid, but you just don’t know it yet.”(Um, what.) And because the writing is so poor, the story suffers, resulting in a meandering mess of things happening because… Just because. There’s no exposition for most events in Jeruzalem, but the film doesn’t think the audience is intelligent and resourceful enough to figure anything out on their own, which creates a palpable contradiction, leaving the audience just as bewildered as the film is. The narrative rushes the audience along to the next story moment, without any sort of elegance or cadence; there’s little to no backstory for any of the characters, who they are, where they currently are in their lives, their ages, or anything, presenting far more questions than answers in an already extremely questionable narrative.

Jeruzalem is a mess of a film. Too hi-fi and inconsistent to be a compelling found footage film, and too sloppily written and turbulent to be a “popcorn flick,” Jeruzalem is confused on what it sets out to do. Because the writing is bad and the performances are worse, the film staggers perpetually, running longer than it should. The monsters the film so focuses on are a metamorphosis of the dead, a transgression in the soul ascending to Heaven, stuck in a sort of limbo, unable to escape the confines of their ethereal world. The dead, in this film, transform from human to malformed humanoid, screeching like a siren, sprouting mutilated batwings, wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting denizens of the earthly realm. Jeruzalem is the embodiment of that transformation: a dead film transforming to a malformed film, screeching like a siren, sprouting mutilated batwings, wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting denizens of the earthly realm.