Joseph Mazzaferro seems to not actually have a job, beyond being online, guess he is meant to be an influencer or something. I could use a worse term, but let’s not get that nasty this early in the review. Anyways apparently Joe has got way past interested in a new YouTube challenge, opening dybbuk boxes. Guess I missed the memo on this one, as the challenge or how to bullshit your audience, has never appeared on my radar. Anyways our hero, term used lightly, decides he wants a part of this challenge, but gets his dybbuk box from off the dark net – you know the place, Hollywood loves the whole concept while the rest of us are saying “whatcha ya talking about Willis”. Naturally, against all warnings, Joe opens the box and unleashes a demon who is intent on playing with lights, knocking a picture off the wall, and fracking up a ceiling fan. Damn me, lucky Joe got out of this one, as opposed to the viewer watching the movie.

This one is a found footage flick that runs just over an hour of tedium for the viewer. Ever wondered what Paranormal Activity would have been with even less of a budget, well hello Dybbuk Box, thanks for answering that question. Apparently you can score a demon holding box over the net and unleash hell in the comfort of your lounge room, which raises the question, just what the hell are the combined Para-Psychology departments doing at various Universities, sitting on their collective bums slurping up coffee and trying to impress undergraduates? Joe does point out a lot of YouTube videos in the challenge are clearly faked, which is about half right folks, if they exist they are all faked including this self-proclaimed “based on a true story” bollock of a movie.

So Joe gets a box, notably the advertising for said “dark web” demonic container claims the box can only be traded not sold, which is kind of strange since prominently displayed is the price tag of $250, guess the definition of trading is different on the dark web. Naturally the box is gnarly, sealed with wax – nice touch, and smells of piss (sorry to delicate readers there), because you know demons smell of pee pee or something. Joe is surprised how light it is, because you know he doesn’t realise you don’t get the hard wood demonic boxed for a mere $250, hell that’s the price tag for the economy model Bro.

Anyways Joe shakes it all around to find that there is something in that there box, which may or may not be a demon, who can tell – well everyone, but let’s pretend and keep the supposed magic flowing for a while. Our central character also has a couple of devices of the ghostbusters variety that prove to him that there’s something supernatural involved. I was kind of hoping for Gozer, but you can’t always get what you want as the Stones are apt to say. 

Having done the normal, irritating the shite out of a demon – Joe clearly hasn’t watched Paranormal Activity - I’m talking the character not the Director here, the supernatural stakes start ramping up. Holy hell, lamps switching on and off by themselves, I was hiding behind the sofa with that one – yes that’s sarcasm Sheldon. A large painting falling off the wall, proof that the demonic entity has some sophistication and a future as an art critic. All culminating in a bedroom ceiling fan crashing done, luckily on a bed with no one in residence. Phew, that could have got messy, and perhaps added some interest to a movie that is dragging its arse slower than Donald Trump can think of a rebuttal. Think that’s about it really, except for Joe looking like he might have a bad case of man flu towards the end of the movie, guess this is the advertised near fatal schlock the movie was on about.

We do get a second character in the movie, if we suppose for just a New York moment the supernatural entity was really poor wiring and construction, in Joe’s female friend Melissa. Who sort of appears, decides things are freaky and Joe should not be dabbling, and then promptly disappears for the rest of the movie never to be heard of again. There’s probably a joke in there somewhere, but I’m wondering if I really care. Uhmm, back to the meat and three veg going down.

There’s a few problems going down with the movie, yeah shock, hold the front pages. The ceiling fan that drops onto the bed, lucky no one yadda yadda, doesn’t appear to have been connected to the power judging by the lack of power cables on display. Guess it was just for show then. The documentary, is this what this is, stated it was authenticated by Paranormal experts, but the actual experts are never mentioned or indeed interviewed. And if you want to do a google on Chris Chambers and his paranormal encounter, well besides this movie you are out of luck. Look to some hack doing a YouTube on the reality behind this one in due course, I’m already blaming the Warrens for that development.

So how is the flick structured you may ask? Think of a cross between a cut price Paranormal Activity, where this sort of thing is handled infinitely better – at least in the first movie, and a YouTube video put out by one of those grifters claiming shite about haunted houses while their mates make banging noises off screen in another room. But be prepared for a whole lot of nothing, everything happens in Joe’s apartment, you don’t at any stage fear for the central character – regardless of pre-viewing claims, and there really isn’t that much activity of the paranormal kind going down. I was amused that Joe didn’t seem to know what a dybbuk box was – seriously dude I was brought up staunch Roman Catholic and knew about this Jewish contrivance curtesy of the 2009 movie The Unborn, a movie seemingly built around Odette Annable’s rather watchable read bumper. Please note I’m not out to offend people of the Jewish faith or any snowflakes that have wandered off the pc reservation.

So Dybbuk Box: True Story of Chris Chambers was one of those oddities you run across while trawling the found footage space. It’s a movie destined to disappear into obscurity, if it hasn’t already, which combines amateur acting and a film maker that really should spend his time on more legitimate hobbies. There’s nothing you haven’t seen before, and done better, and nothing to really take from the flick besides questioning what life choices brought you to watching this one. Poorly crafted, boring, and no recommendation is my summation. Another attempt at a true horror story that fails within ten minutes to convince anyone what they are viewing is fair dinkum. There’s a lot of much better found footage flicks out there, don’t waste your time on this one.