Review: 'Let's Scare Julie' Starts Strong, then Fizzles

It makes a lot of sense that Jud Cremata, the writer/director of the new horror thriller "Let's Scare Julie," has a lengthy background in directing reality TV.

Clearly produced on a very low-budget, this effects-free ensemble thriller is shot like a documentary, and the conversations between the main characters feel so natural they seem unscripted. This is a good thing, and begins the film on a high note.

The set-up is simple: Four girls are hanging out one night, playing pranks and generally being typical obnoxious teenage girls.

At one point, Taylor (Isabel May) tells her friends a story about the weird neighbors that used to live across the street when she was young. Her cousin Emma (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) backs up this story, and informs them that she saw a girl named Julie move into the house with one of her parents. Being the bratty teens they seem to be, they decide to don some rave masks and go scare the girl. Emma isn't up for it, and chooses to stay back with her little sister Lilly (Dakota Baccelli), but soon enough the other three are dashing across the street to do their scaring.

It isn't long afterwards that one of the friends, Paige (Jessica Sarah Flaum) shows up incredibly upset about whatever it is that occurred across the street. To make matters worse, Emma's little sister has disappeared from her bedroom.

Very quickly, all hell breaks loose and it seems that Emma now has to figure out where her friends are, and what's happening to them in the house across the street.

To be fair, the first third of "Let's Scare Julie" is fairly intriguing. While a few of the girls are truly annoying, the banter and the way they talk with each other is so realistic it avoids any of that typical teen horror movie-speak that ruins a lot of horror films these days. While nothing scary happens in the first third, there is added tension because Taylor's alcoholic father is asleep on the couch downstairs, so the girls need to be quiet or they'll wake him up – something a few of the girls find it very hard to do.

Once the girls carry out their prank (we don't see this occur) they come back one by one (maybe), either distraught or they soon will be. The movie keeps you glued to the screen wondering exactly what is going on. The problem is that Cremata can't keep all the balls he's juggling in the air.

Is this a movie about a prank gone wrong? Is it about the mysterious native doll Emma has that keeps disappearing and reappearing throughout the house? Is this a supernatural horror film? It is a simple revenge tale? We never really know, and while that is a bit intriguing, ultimately a lot of the red herrings end up not making any sense contextually.

The ending seems as if the budget ran out and the film just stops – nonsensically so, because when you find out what's going on (it's much less exciting than you expect) the final moments don't make sense thematically.

The actors – all unknowns – are pretty good here, and the style of the film works well. If only the script had lived up to its promise, "Let's Scare Julie" might have become the new horror indie darling. Instead, it shoots out of the starting gate, and then limps across the finish line.

The girls might have wanted to scare Julie, but Cremata forgot to fully scare his audience.