Life of Belle – Movie Review (3/5)

LIFE OF BELLE is a found footage horror movie on Screambox. It doesn’t start out strong, but its slow-burn style does evolve impressively. In fact, I ended up being completely lost in this dark world. Read our full Life of Belle movie review here!

LIFE OF BELLE is a new found-footage horror movie about the disappearance of a young girl. Or really, it’s not so much about her actual disappearance as it’s the story of the days leading up to this moment. During these days, we wonder if her mom is suffering from mental illness or if there’s something supernatural going on.

The style reminded me a lot of Paranormal Activity and while I’ve also seen it compared to Skinamarink, I feel it’s much more like the former. The runtime is just 73 minutes, so it’s fairly short.

Continue reading our Life of Belle movie review below. Find it on YouTube now or on ScreamBox from May 17, 2024.

Solving a mystery via found footage

Life of Belle is a movie dealing with the disappearance of a young girl. The 8-year-old Annabelle Starnes went missing, and now we’re looking at the surveillance footage from the home to piece together what happened.

Of course, the first question is: Why is there surveillance footage from a normal family home?

Well, the father is traveling and supposedly, it’s to be able to keep an eye on the kids and follow along with everything going on. However, it quickly turns out that it’s probably more to keep an eye on his wife. While that might sound very sinister, it turns out to be due to mental illness and previous breakdowns.

Being away for a few days, unsure if his wife is up to the task of being a full-time mom right now, he wants to keep an eye on the house. Obviously, he can’t do much from the distance, but I guess he just feels better being able to watch. Or he did!

From Paranormal Activity to Skinamarink

Life of Belle has been compared to both Paranormal Activity and Skinamarink, but as I enjoyed this one a lot more than Skinamarink, I feel that the comparison to Paranormal Activity is much more on point.

Especially as a lot of what works the best in Life of Belle reminded me of moments from the iconic found-footage franchise. Not every Paranormal Activity movie is great, and this new movie has moments that aren’t that great either.

For one, it does not start out very strong, so please don’t judge it based on the first half hour. The ending of Life of Belle is much better than I expected. Also, before we get to the ending itself, there are some truly terrifying moments.

Great delivery from the kids in this movie during those intense scenes!

Watch Life of Belle on Screambox or YouTube now

The director of Life of Belle is Shawn Robinson. He is also the writer, editor, and cinematographer. Life of Belle is very much a family affair. The entire cast of the four family members is related, which makes perfect sense.

Not only because they look like they could be related, but due to their chemistry and the natural and organic interaction throughout. This reminded me of movies from the Wonder Wheel Productions artistic collaboration consisting of wife, husband, and two daughters. Check out their latest Where the Devil Roams (2023).

Matthew, Sarah, Syrenne, and Zachary Robinson portray father, mother, daughter Belle, and son Link respectively. They deliver strong performances that actually work better than most of the “news anchors” in the used TV clips. Those fall quite flat.

The 73-minute runtime is definitely an advantage as it doesn’t run on for too long. With a slow-burn style, you need to know when to move it all along. And Life of Belle manages to move it along before you find yourself getting too impatient.

Life of Belle is on SCREAMBOX from May 17, 2024. It is already free to watch online on YouTube.

Details

Director: Shawn Robinson
Writer: Shawn Robinson
Stars: Sarah Mae Robinson, Matthew Robinson, Syrenne Robinson, Zachary Robinson, Lilli Albert, Kelly Black, Lyla Black