''Mockingbird'' is a 2014 American found footage

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

written and directed by Bryan Bertino, from a story by Bertino and

Sam Esmail Sam Esmail (born September 17, 1977) is an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter who runs the production company Esmail Corp. He is best known as the creator, writer and director of the award-winning USA Network televi ...

. The film was released to

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on October 7, 2014 and was given a DVD and Blu-ray release on October 21 of the same year. It stars

Todd Stashwick Todd Stashwick is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as Dale Malloy on '' The Riches'' and Deacon on '' 12 Monkeys''. Early life and career After performing at several local improvisational theaters, he was hired to tour wi ...

Alexandra Lydon Alexandra Lydon is an American actress and writer. Early life and education Lydon was born and raised in Dorchester, Boston. She attended the New York University Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at the affiliated Stella Adler Conser ...

, and Barak Hardley as three people that have been given video cameras with the instructions to film their daily activities for a strange contest.

Plot

The film follows three groups of people, all of whom have found a video camera on their doorstep and begin filming under the impression that this is the key to winning money from a mysterious competition. Tom (

) is an average guy filming the life of his family with his wife Emmy. Beth (

) is a bored and isolated college girl who sees the camera as something to fill her free time. Leonard (Barak Hardley) is a

mother's boy Mother's boy, also commonly and informally mummy's boy or mama's boy, is a term for a man seen as having an unhealthy dependence on his mother at an age at which he is expected to be self-reliant (e.g. live on his own, be economically independent) ...

who believes his clown makeup will steal the scene. Each group has been given a label - "The Family" (Tom & Emmy), "The Woman" (Beth), and "The Clown" (Leonard), but they are largely unaware of what is truly going on and are shocked when they receive instructions telling them to keep filming or die.

Cast

Audrey Marie Anderson Audrey Marie Anderson (born March 7, 1975) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Kim Brown in the CBS action-drama series ''The Unit'' (2006–2009) and her recurring roles as DC character Lyla Michaels (Arrowverse) ...

as Emmy *

Natalie Alyn Lind Natalie Alyn Lind (born 1999/2000) is an American actress. She is known for her television series appearances, such as her recurring roles as Dana Caldwell in '' The Goldbergs'' and Silver St. Cloud in '' Gotham'', and for her starring role as ...

as Jacob's Friend #4 * Benjamin Stockham as Jacob's Friend #2 *

Emily Alyn Lind Emily Alyn Lind (born 2001/2002) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, when she was known for her recurring role as young Amanda Clarke on the ABC series '' Revenge'', and for her role as Ariel on the CBS medical dram ...

as Abby * Alyvia Alyn Lind as Megan *

as Tom *

Lee Garlington Ann Leslie "Lee" Garlington (born July 20, 1953) is an American actress. Early life Garlington was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. She spent her teenage years in Wilmington, Delaware. Career She has guest starred in a number of notable television s ...

as Mom * Spencer List as Jacob Henry *

Isabella Murad ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as a ...

as Jacob's Friend #3 *

as Beth *

Barak Hardley Barak ( or ; he, בָּרָק; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bārāq''; ar, البُراق ''al-Burāq'' "lightning") was a ruler of Ancient Israel. As military commander in the biblical Book of Judges, Barak, with Deborah, from the Tribe of Ephraim, ...

as Leonard

Reception

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

'' and ''

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'' both gave favorable reviews for ''Mockingbird'', and ''Bloody Disgusting'' praised the film for its tone and wrote that while it "lacks some of the studio polish of '' The Strangers'', it actually feels bigger than that film in some regards." ''HorrorNews.net'' panned the film.

References

External links

* {{Bryan Bertino 2014 horror films Found footage films American horror thriller films Blumhouse Productions films Films produced by Jason Blum Horror films about clowns 2010s English-language films 2010s American films