Water Horse (2024) by Jennifer Van Gessel

Director: Jennifer Van Gessel

Year: 2024

Country: Australia

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Trying to look into a mysterious disappearance, a film crew begins documenting what happened to a popular paranormal investigator who has ties to a mysterious lake in a remote part of the country, but when they begin investigating the incidents they find it’s connected to a strange curse affecting the area.

Review:

This was an overall enjoyable if slightly flawed mockumentary. One of the brightest spots here is the general setup that allows for a solid enough motivation to search for the missing figure. Getting the right mixture of news outlets reporting on the incident and talking heads providing enough detail about her status and reputation so that the use of providing one of her last paranormal research sessions with a partner looking into a haunted house so we get an idea of who she is and what she’s about, the experience comes off nicely enough. The search into the final case involving the mysterious water horse statue that's haunting the family offers the kind of fun lead-in to the main genesis of the film looking into what happened at the lake where it’s from sets up some really intriguing elements here.

As the investigation into what’s going on leads the two into a far-ranging conspiracy about the lake and what’s going on, this one picks up considerably with quite a lot to like. The investigation turns rather nicely into a fantastic concept about the strange creature in the lake which is the start of an equally fantastic mystery connecting a mining tragedy, hidden relatives, a town full of disappearing locals, and the reports about a creature living in the area that begins stalking those around the water which is quite fun to see play out. This is what helps to pay off a lot of the earlier exposition of what’s happening as the series of plot-threads at play make for a creepy time the more this goes on. With an immensely chilling and creepy ending that resolves everything quite nicely, this one has a lot to like about it.

There are some drawbacks to this one that hold it down. Among the main drawbacks here is the decision to present everything as if it’s a mockumentary yet instead feels far more like a found-footage feature. The interludes of the news reports, the flashbacks to the past incident involving her mother, and how this ties into the missing paranormal investigator that spurred everything on all feel far more reliant on the traditional mode of storytelling when it didn’t need to be. This could’ve easily been shot as a traditional feature, or just straightforward found-footage instead of being used to go for this mockumentary approach on people we’re unfamiliar with so it sets up who they are at the point where it could’ve been as everything makes more sense to be a traditional genre feature. It’s the main issue to be had here holding this one down.

Overview: ***.5/5

An overall rather enjoyable found-footage feature, this one comes off incredibly well overall and makes for quite a likable feature much holding it down. Give it a shot if you’re intrigued by the concept of this one, a fan of this particular style of genre effort, or just of the presentation offered here while most others out there should heed slight caution with this one.