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Laura is a university student living in Rome, sharing an apartment with her peer Marta. One day, Laura buys a video camera with which she decides to document her daily life, despite Marta's immediate hostility. In the following days, strange events begin to occur in the apartment that seem to have supernatural causes. What follows is the chronicle of what happened, documented by Laura's video camera. "Paranormal Activity," although not innovative in terms of language and theme, managed to intrigue many people both for the excellent promotional work that greatly reminded its direct predecessor "The Blair Witch Project," and for a real effectiveness in transforming domestic intimacy — and the vulnerability of sleep, in particular — into a treacherous and at times genuinely unsettling territory. On the occasion of the Italian release of "Paranormal Activity," Filmauro launched a contest asking filmmakers to propose short films inspired by the story and style of the film they were distributing. Among the many entries was "2.58 E.R.," written and directed by Daniele Misischia and Giacomo Gabrielli, which forms the basis of "End Roll," what we can define as the first Italian "clone" of "Paranormal Activity." The two directors expanded the story of their short film — which in the final cut does not reach three minutes, although originally there was material for a 15-minute edit — into a feature-length film of one hour and fifteen minutes, and the limit of "End Roll" lies here. Essentially, the narrative material is visibly intended to be told in a few minutes, and stretching its duration so substantially gives life to a film that for the most part proves to be uninteresting and quite boring. "End Roll" shows the life of two more or less contemporary university students, their days spent between jokes, arguments, and evenings at the theater to watch a friend's performance. Essentially, very little happens in this film, and the narrative material is quite repetitive, with too many squabbles between Laura and Marta, with the former doing everything to be unbearable and the latter acting with epic antipathy. Occasionally, the video camera sends signals that something paranormal is in the air, with audio and video disturbances marking some rare moments of tension. The situation becomes more dynamic in the last ten minutes, when the threat begins to be perceived as such, recalling in some aspects the ending of "[REC]." Of course, it is all told in subjective perspective with handheld camera, as per mockumentary tradition, with the opening captions informing us that it is a recovered video now in the hands of the Rome police, revealing the cards on the table as the found footage rule dictates. "End Roll" leaves the viewer somewhat disappointed, with the feeling of having caught a handful of flies rather than a succulent horror. The two leading actresses, Giada Caruso and Susy Suarez, already present in the original short film "2.58 E.R.," are undeniably good, capable of expressing naturalness and professionalism. "End Roll" thus adds to the universe of modern Italian mockumentary horror, after, among others, "Road to L. - Il mistero di Lovecraft," "Circuito Chiuso," and "Th3 Pit," the first one that explicitly refers to "Paranormal Activity." The result does not stand out, but now in Italy we can boast of having our own "Paranormal Activity" and naturally we wish the two directors the same luck that befell Oren Peli. Watch the short film 2:58 END ROLL