The Mitchin Murders (2024) by Jamie B-Debbage

Director: Jamie B-Debbage

Year: 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Trying to uncover the truth about her hometown, a reporter and her friend set out to make a documentary about a series of murders that occurred in her small town several years earlier, but when they gradually uncover evidence of a real serial killer still hunting in the area must stop his rampage.

Review:

This was a decent if highly troubling mockumentary effort. One of the brighter points here is a straightforward and simplistic storyline that lets the series of events depicted here come together rather well. The initial introduction to the story and how it gets brought up involving the events in the town and how they affected the lives of the filmmakers growing up is a solid touch, especially with the way the series of interviews that get brought into play are utilized. These offer a solid look at the different individuals present here involving the different bits of information that are revealed about what really happened, how the different events went down, and the lives being affected which spur the finale where the turn into a field investigation takes place.

The second half features this investigation in the field, featuring more random interviews, and setting out to look into the truth about the claims of everything being based on a boogeyman, resulting in the reveal that the killer is still around taking victims which has some fun moments. This section manages to slow the pace down considerably with the decision to investigate the towns’ history rather than stay involved in the current case, as the background information doesn’t prove any more useful in figuring out what’s happening. The focus away from the current to look at the past that has no bearing is a misstep with little happening, forced interviews trying to bring something useful to light, and very little action at all making for a generally disappointing time and being the big issues that hold it down.

Overview: *.5/5

Decent enough at points but still rather troubling overall, this one comes off well enough to be watchable but has quite a few issues to be problematic overall. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of the approach and presentation featured here while those turned off by this particular style will want to give this one extreme caution.