Director: Shawn C. Phillips, Lauren Francesca
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to boost their flagging viewers, a pair of struggling vloggers decide to boost their show by investigating a strange series of disappearances in the local woods with some friends of theirs, but the more they carry on trying to figure out what’s happening the group stumbles upon the real culprit and try to get away.
Review:
This was a pretty solid if slightly problematic genre effort. What starts off rather nicely here is the traditional and stereotypical storyline that provides plenty of opportunity to follow up on a found-footage format. The old standby of the online channel trying to get viewers however they can by using the legend of a mysterious being at the center of several disappearances in the area and the quest to document it which strands them in the same situation as everyone else doesn’t have much in the way of genuinely creative ideas for this type of film but the more important factor here is that it is serviceable enough. It provides all the explanations necessary for the film as it gives the backstory about the being in the area, gets them out to investigate everything, and serves to keep the cameras rolling when they get in trouble which is all it needs to be.
It provides everything needed to prepare the final half for its fun coming together with the various supernatural elements presented here. The early build-up of the group in the woods and meeting up with the nature cult is a fine way to get everything started, and when it starts going wild with the ideas being presented there’s a lot to like about it. Following the exploits of the bizarre cult of nature-worshippers that slowly grows more malevolent the more they spend time interacting with them, the use of several previously-mentioned aspects of the legend that come to pass, and the final reveal of their true nature sets up a highly enjoyable finale where everything is turned around by having another figure altogether be the culprit instead, there’s a rather fun twist here which provides the film with some likable factors.
This one does have some issues that hold it back. One of the main drawbacks to this one is a rather scattershot and highly randomized pace that feels incredibly randomized with how it carries along. The randomized meeting with individuals during the first half is quite egregious in presenting itself with no real purpose behind their meetings beyond getting random appearances or cameos from people without adding anything to the storyline. The useless meeting with the mayor that they get aggressive with and later kicked out of, the random conversation with the prisoner in the jail, or the scenes in the restaurant are fine in theory about trying to get information from them but end up not resulting in anything useful being brought up so it comes off as padding and stalling the film more than anything.
The other issue with this one is the decidedly unlikable main group we’re supposed to follow the entire time. The two leads here are decidedly at odds with each other arguing about bringing more people along than intended as well as who those individual people are, the inability to stay focused on the purpose of the documentary shoot, or being distracted once they find the lone group of nature-dwellers who are left in the woods. These aspects are repeated so often throughout here that it manages to grow quite tiresome the more it keeps going on, and none of it makes them seem anything close to the kind of friends that have been together as long as they say they are so it comes off even lower than normal. Combined with the general low-budget approach on display, these are enough to hold it back.
Overview: **.5/5
Watchable for what it is but not much more than that, this is a generally serviceable genre effort that ends up being lowered by the flaws that hold it back the most. Those who enjoy this kind of indie genre effort, are hardcore found-footage followers, or are fans of the creative crew will like this the most, while most others out there should heed caution with it.
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