Due to unexpected technical issues and an equally frustrating amount of time resolving those issues we found ourselves crunched for time to get full coverage of the Unnamed Footage Film Festival.
No thanks to these time constraints and other obligations that have to be fulfilled we offer up a taster’s menu of reviews of the five films we managed to fit in once the technology gods became bored of playing havoc with our digital infrastructure at home.
Back on track we focused on which world premieres were available to us from the festival. We also wanted to see one particular film that was having its U.S. premiere because it was an award winner at a festival that we have had very close ties to over the years.
The goals are all the same, how can each movie scare you. Some stood out from others based on how they did it, *when* they did it and how often they did it. Some stuck to a basic set up or formula, while others found ways to incorporate cameras out of neccessity. Boil it down, in the sea of found footage movies, did your movie stick out?
Not officially ranked but if you read these in order, then yes, they are in order of rising impressiveness.
This House is Totally HauntedWhen a team of ghost hunters travel to a backwoods cabin, they find themselves facing off with a cult survivor, his strange manservant, and a haunting that may or may not be real.The set up stood out in the movie’s introduction, portraying an episode of a ghost hunting show called, dah-da-da daaaah, This House is Totally Haunted. Roles of each team member are set out during the ‘episode’; the host, the cameraman and the psychic. Even after a successful visit to a haunted house the host feels like they need something big to give the show a real boost. This invitation from a cult survivor could be that ‘something big’.A concern is that THITH begs to be deconstructed from the start. There are no shoes to drop because the audience likely already figured who is who and what is what. Also, we found out after the fact that THITH is a sequel to Sean Nicholas Lynch’s precursor to this one, The Ceremony is About to Begin. If you knew that, and seen that first film surely there are no surprises, at all. So, would it help if we had seen that earlier film? We don’t feel any need to, honestly. Still, credit should be given for using a particular ancient mythology as the core of the cult’s belief system.Having already made up our minds about who was who, and what was going to happen to whom, we were left to watch it all unfold and for us there was no big payoff at the end. Refusing the urge to give it away, the epilogue to this film did not help its case, either.Also, for a film that claims to be a blend of comedy and horror, there is nary a laugh to be found in this one. That’s just odd to us. There was one well executed jump scare, preceded by a decent build of tension, but that was about it.HeritageFifteen years after leaving Corsica, Marie and Daniel return to visit their elderly grandfather. Looking to capture their reunion, they pick up the family camcorder, but what they uncover is far from what they expected.So, this is reportedly the first Corsican horror film. It was shot on the French island with a micro budget over five days. The odds were against it from the start, but you have to start somewhere, right? We thought that it was mercifully short for a found footage horror film. More often than not filmmakers take feature length running time as a dare or an obligation. At just over an hour this was a relative ease to get through.Still, once the campfire scary story has been told you know exactly how this one is going to pan out. To its credit there is a moment before its climax that made us say, oh, you did go there. Good for you. Still, there’s not enough here to fill that hour, or, some things don’t go explored enough to build myth or apprehension. It relies on its end-effect to shock and stun but sadly, it’s something so common in the horror genre as a whole that seasoned horror fans are no longer surprised by such things.SamingWhile searching for his missing sister in Northern Thailand, a fitness vlogger is introduced to the legend of Saming, a shapeshifting tiger that consumes and replaces its victims.This was a beautifully shot and edited… found footage movie. Which is weird to say, no? Found footage is typically strung together in bits and bobs, but this one even had pensive transitions edited in. Of the films we watched out of this year’s lineup this was one of the best looking ones.We appreciated the further insight into southeast asian culture - the spirits that are a part of the everyday fabric of society. It has been something that we have always appreciated since watching the Thai supernatural horror flick, The Unseeable, back in 2006.We also appreciated that you could wander into the unknown even when you are in a metropolitan area. Written into the story were these little, claustrophobic enclaves that our subjects found themselves caught in. However, wandering, lost through the forest, is effective for only so long and this one had some looong lost in the forest moments. Just bump into something already! It leads up to the big issue with Saming.The key issue we have with Saming is not the slow burn approach to the finale but the reward for it, that it ends with an end effect that was not satisfying and chooses to be ambiguous. It has one of those “That’s it?” endings that will likely frustrate more than satisfy other viewers.The Killing CellIn the summer of 2006, five teenagers break into an abandoned prison that is supposedly haunted. As they explore the place, they discover that what inhabits it is much more dangerous than the paranormal.What makes The Killing Cell stand out from the crowd is the group dynamics. Though it has the requisite jagoff the group dynamics felt more authentic than anything else we watched from this lineup.The team did a good job of capturing the mid 00s aesthetic as well, from the clothes, the model of camcorders used, down to burned CDs in a post-Napster era (which elicited a chuckle from this aging fossil). The attention to these details is great.The structure is familiar, that of the investigator/victim trope; where a group investigating a mystery becomes the new target, often becoming victims themselves. Here we have a group of younglings who go where they should not go, in search of evidence of something horrible that happened, only to have horrible things happen to them.Events do escalate in due time and there are tense moments such as the one where the killer stalks a hallway while best friends Zack and Dan hide from them. It is eerily quiet, save for the sound of footsteps as the killer gets nearer and nearer. It is proper unnerving.Everything builds to an exciting, emotional conclusion with a big, brutal payoff. Not the absolute winner of the bunch but it was impressive nonetheless.The Devil’s TeardropFour American friends filming an eco-documentary about illegal mining in Peru ignore locals' warnings about Supay, an ancient spirit protecting the forest. Their skepticism leads to dire consequences.Of all the films that we screened, the one that understood the assignment the best was this English-language film from Peruvian director Gonzalo Otero.What did The Devil’s Teardrop do better than the rest of the films we saw? It scared early, it scared frequently, and it scared well. From early jump scares and surprises to approaching doom, this one did it best. Dreaded silence followed by explosive movements or violence is the formula for getting a good reaction out of your viewer and Otero understood that going into this one.The movie was also novel in its approach of camera use, that the only way to see the Supay was through the camera lens, so the team always has their cameras on. And because they are a team of dedicated filmmakers there are ingrained skills in camera work which means hardly any shaky cam! Huzzah! Saints be praised, you know what you’re looking at! This dedication to keeping the cameras on so they can see the Supay requires phenomenal battery life, sure, but it's still novel. And the bunny from those battery commercials would like a word, Otero.Sure, we think that it didn’t quite stick the landing in the climax, and the visual effects do show signs of budget restraints at times, but the most important detail in any scary movie is - is it scary? This one is and we hope more people get to see it this year.