Director: Jon Garcia
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Cult; Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Plot:
Moving to a new house in the countryside, a couple’s attempt at moving past a personal tragedy moves them into an area populated by a group of hippie-like free spirits who practice a form of nature worship that intrigues them into joining them only for a guardian creature to disturb it all.
Review:
Overall, there’s a lot to like about this one. One of the finer aspects of the film is the rather strong and generally impressive mixture of storylines here that provides a highly intriguing setup. The main idea of the film revolving around the bizarre commune-like cult that interacts with nature in the way they do makes for a great starting point here, with their friendly nature and persona clashing with the couple’s tragedy that brings them into contact after moving in. This setup paints them as the sinister force they are with the easy-going nature hiding the malevolent secret about the forest they have despite the outgoing appearance, and with the sinister secret they hide being quite monstrous it all helps to add a much darker undertone than expected to the interactions early on about getting to know the couple once they arrive.
This provides the necessary setup for the finale here where everything comes together enough to get an idea of what the purpose for it all really is. The idea of the cult’s seduction techniques being revealed and given out to be the next member of their tribe is a pretty disturbing part of this when the full extent of it all gets spelled out, and the means of doing this with various means of helping that along with their actions and secretive behavior coming to the forefront providing this with the necessary launching point into the creatures’ appearance at the end. However brief it is, the onslaught of violence here with the victims getting ripped to pieces and torn apart, the mini-brawls that take place trying to keep everything in line, and a haunting final resolution that plays perfectly with how everything’s been described all manage to play out here to give this some likable enough elements.
There are a few minor drawbacks that hold this one back. Among the more detrimental issues here is the obvious lack of tension that goes on here due to the focus on the commune’s free-spirited nature-worship approach to living. As the majority of this one is about their making peace and harmony with the universe, conducting rituals to symbolize their one-ness with nature, and trying to seduce them into their way of living, there’s no prominent threat for a healthy part of the running time. This keeps the creature off-screen and not interacting with anyone beyond standing in the treeline observing what’s going on as the main focus does come from the lives of the cult doing their best to preach their views on them so the brief bits of creature action isn’t always a priority here. This can be a real turn-off for some expecting a creature feature instead of this cult-like effort which does hold it down.
Overview: ***/5
Fine enough for what it is but still missing in certain areas, this isn’t a total waste but it does have some issues here with its setup that could lead to bigger issues for some out there. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of this kind of indie effort or if this kind of indie film appeals to you but those who are turned off by the flaws here expecting more creature feature action or not interested in this approach should heed caution.
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