Four student filmmakers set out to explore an abandoned building famous for its connection with the occult, but as their journey becomes littered with strange behavior and unexplained phenomena, it becomes clear the horror they are attempting to document may already be lurking among them.

1st Summoning sets out to secure a special spot in the crowded found footage category. Does it come out at the top, bottom or somewhere in the middle of the pile?

The story opens up with two of our characters talking to each other about their upcoming project and how important it is. We then get to meet our two other leads though we’re not given a whole lot of information about any involved or given any reason to care about what happens. The first is a guy that might be there to help edit and add some unneeded drama. The second is the token “funny guy” who is the main cameraman, though he just comes off creepy and is also responsible for the biggest eye roll of the movie. What follows next is standard horror movie fare: investigate evil thing, get stuck while said investigation is underway and then bad things happen.

Once the movie gets going it’s actually rather entertaining, the problem is that it takes almost an hour to get there. Leading up to that point, we have to sit through awkward exchanges and bad choices that had me covering my eyes for all the wrong reasons. While bad choices are a given in the genre such as continuing to film while running for your life and awkward dialog can be overlooked, it’s the characters themselves that make this so hard to watch at times. They are so unlikeable, that you just hope they get eaten sooner rather than later. They actually seem to be driven out of spite or malice for each other. This ultimately makes the finale fall flat since you just don’t care what happens.

As tends to be the case with these types of films, the sound can be all over the place. One moment you’re struggling to make out what is being said and the next your speakers risk being blown out by a jump scare, which thankfully, this movie is light on those. The lighting is consistent throughout which is a plus. It was easy to see what was happening at any given time. There wasn’t a lot of shaky cam going on either. Overall from a visual standpoint, it was well done and you could see that there was talent involved. Unfortunately the lackluster story, uneven audio, and just downright bad characters keep this from being anything different than any other Found Footage film that you would find in the bargain bin.