Not knowing much about Randall Cole's 388 Arletta Avenue I really only had the poster to go on and from the looks of it I thought I was getting a post Paranormal Activity vibe. To an extent the film does rip a lot from the Paranormal Activity franchise as it is filmed completely from the point-of-view of cameras set up in the titular residence. Instead of capturing spooky goings on though Cole establishes early on that all these cameras have been set up by an unknown stalker of the young couple who live at the house. The couple in question are James and Amy, played by Nick Stal and Mia Kirshner, while he seems to edit travel brochures for a living she apparently has spent eight years working on a thesis about Afghan embroidery. The torture starts when James discovers a Mix CD in his car playing The Crystals' Da Doo Ron Ron and accuses his wife of making it however the history on in his computer seems to suggest otherwise. On returning home from work James discovers that Amy isn't there and after quizzing her overly-suspicious sister Katherine he realises that somebody is out to get him. His suspicions are turned to former schoolmate Bill, played by former child star Devon Sawa, who he and his friends used to bully but after several meetings he still can't get anything from him while at the same time he can't figure out why anybody would be doing this to him. After his cat is decapitated he decides to take action and goes out with a gun determined to make somebody pay but as he doesn't know who it is things inevitably won't end up going the way he wants them.
388 Arletta Avenue did surprise me to some extent in that it was a lot better than a Paranormal Activity rip-off and I certainly enjoyed it more than either The Pact or The Chernobyl Diaries. The central concept is exciting at first while Cole's decision to make Da Doo Ron Ron the creepy soundtrack of the film somehow works as every time it plays James gets more and more paranoid. The performances as well are on form especially from Stahl who often has to carry the film single-handedly while Sawa's handful of scenes add a different dimension to the James character as we learn he has a dark past. For me though after a while the voyeuristic aspect started to get a little bit tired especially as I believe Cole put a lot more effort into perfecting the style of his film than he did with the character development. For example I don't think the relationship dynamic was explored as much as it could've been before she disappears off screen for the rest of the film as I think had there been a lot more of what happens could be explained. One of my main problems was that Amy's sister Katharine had an issue with James throughout believing that he had done something to her rather than actually trying to help him find her in addition there was also an insinuation that James had an alcohol problem. Though the character problems are forgivable what isn't is the final couple of scenes which for me negate the good that Cole does building up to his so-called revelation as personally I found his conclusion to be not as smart as he thought it was. 388 Arletta Avenue certainly isn't a stinker of a film however the voyeuristic stalker film has been done better than this and has produced more well-rounded films than Cole's thankfully though he has strayed off the Paranormal Activity path just enough so this isn't just another clone.
Verdict: An interesting concept runs out of steam quickly as characters fail to develop before a rubbish ending though due to some enjoyment and good acting work from Stahl and Sawa I will still award this 5/10
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