The movie came out today in Italy, so me and my girlfriend went to see it. Not bad at all, the shaky camera effects and the continuous subjective, limited FOV vision were a nice touch to keep the audience on its toe (or make it vomit, take your pick). Since you can’t see anything clear, the movie has an easy job to scare you: the creature remains mostly a product of your own imagination even when it’s partially revealed and that’s the most disturbing trait of the movie. Surprisingly the most tense scenes are those where the film remembers us that we aren’t the pinnacle of the food chain anymore and those where people are acting like mad rodents, escaping a predator or just fumbling out in panic. Real panic, not the usual mass hysteria you can expect from a monster movie.
After seeing the movie, the question appeared on many gaming site about the ability of a modern console to deliver such shaky-camera effects seemed just another movie-driven marketing gimnick than a real question.
The movie instantly remembered me the last Call of Chtulhu hybrid FPS-adventure and the frequent sequences where you have to run, scared, from Lovercraftian horrors. That game really delivers a similar experience, limiting you in the usual narrow 90° FOV with almost no peripheral vision (just like watching through a camera!), blurred sight due to motion\pain\panic and the usual disorientation that running hysterically in real-sized spaces with an FPS engine usually delivers.
I’d have some concerns about the effectiveness of the technique for a whole game. In the movie, you have no control on the camera and it adds to confusion, in a game, you are supposed to be in control and a compelled shaky-camera mode may be an overshot if not balanced correctly.
Cthulhu got it right because the visual confusion during chases is the result of your own actions combined with the visual limitations, two factors that build up a great claustrophobic effect.
Rockstar Gamer 