The new horror film THE OUTWATERS belongs to the found footage subgenre. In addition, there are times when it is pure body slasher and mindf*ck. I find the 100-minute running time to be excessive. Although they are significant and make sense, there are some repetitions that could have been cut a little bit.
Naturally, I must acknowledge that watching a screener at home is not the same as watching a dark movie in a theater. In a movie theater, this could be a deliciously eerie, fully immersive horror experience. In the same way, I doubt the runtime would feel excessively long. Okay, you might want to get away, but that's clearly what the plan is for.
You might not like this movie, but I definitely did.
I need everyone to know that The Outwaters is extremely abrasive for a variety of reasons before I get into the gore-soaked darkness.
First and foremost, it is a found-footage horror film, a genre that has a history of polarizing audiences. Additionally, the majority of the nighttime scenes are lit by a single flashlight, making it impossible to distinguish between scenes due to the found footage camerawork. Ultimately, however, the film fails to fully explain itself. It clearly explains its initial premise, but nothing concrete is said about what these characters are going through until the second half of the movie starts.
However, all of those creative choices actually benefit The Outwaters, making it one of the first found footage horror films in a long time to directly penetrate my brain.
A solid foundation for a horror film based on found footage The Outwaters follows the standard format of found footage, in which memory cards are unintentionally discovered and form the basis of an unscripted narrative. Although the memory cards are discovered in a remote area of the Mojave Desert, the actual found footage begins a considerable amount of time before they reach the desert.
The story of four friends who go camping in the Mojave Desert to film a music video for one of them is told through the found footage. She is a singer who needs a music video to help spread the word about her music online. Also, let me just say that the music, which was written by Salem Belladonna himself, is good.
The song "Red Hands," by Lauren Jacquish, that played during the credits made me especially euphoric!
Getting back to the story's horror, which picks up quickly once it gets dark. At this point, things quickly become very strange. They only have to deal with strange lights and sounds on this trip.
In the end, both the people in the found footage and us, the viewers of The Outwaters, are taken on a mind-boggling journey filled with unrelenting terror whose source is difficult to pinpoint.
Robbie Banfitch, who is also the director, writer, and cinematographer of The Outwaters, stars alongside Angela Basolis, Michelle May, Scott Schamell, and Leslie Ann Banfitch. In this, each and every actor delivers precisely what their characters require. They are all to be commended because this does get very crazy at times.
Returning to the roots of found footage The Outwaters clearly harkens back to the early days of the found footage subgenre in many ways. After hearing that memory cards have been discovered, we are shown a lot of footage that sets up the full-on horror story. In that regard, it even resembled Cloverfield.
It appears that the film has been drawing comparisons to Skinamarink and The Blair Witch Project. The first comparison is easy to understand in terms of found footage because one scene feels like a real tribute, but the second comparison is more about mood and creepiness. Skinamarink, on the other hand, is weaker and, yes, inferior to The Outwaters in my opinion.
I do think that The Outwaters is too long, as I mentioned earlier. However, despite having the same runtime as Skinamarink, its 100 minutes didn't feel nearly as long. primarily due to the fact that this movie tells a much longer story and lets us interact with the characters more. That is something I absolutely require. As a result of watching Skinamarink and then this new one, I learned a lot.
It is up for debate whether this movie adheres completely to the found footage dogma. It is difficult to discern how this was included in the fragmented clips on some memory cards because there is additional sound and music. Additionally, it is only because the protagonist is a filmmaker that we are able to accept that he maintains control of the camera no matter how crazy things get. For me, that part works!
You can see The Outwaters right now in theaters or later on Screambox!
Robbie Banfitch is the film's director and writer. He also stars in the movie and is the cinematographer, as was mentioned earlier. However, it absolutely functions, indicating that it was unquestionably the best decision. Robbie Banfitch doesn't hold back, even when we get into brutal (and very undressed) body horror. At all!
Having said that, I have to admit that the flashlight's ability to focus precisely drove me a little crazy. I understand that it is frightening that we can only see about 5 percent of the screen while the rest is dark. But why on earth would someone bring such a flashlight to the desert, where the night is pitch black?
Again, the horror had a powerful effect, but it eventually made me nervous. Because it went on for too long, it was hard for me to love this movie as a whole. However, it also has a lot going for it, so anyone who enjoys body horror, found footage, and absolute mindf*ck stories should definitely check this out.
Our rating of 2 out of 5 is not entirely accurate. However, we do not use half-star ratings. This film would receive a rating of 212 out of 5, if we did.
Because the main character is literally a filmmaker, this movie manages to get away with some really stylish shots and camerawork throughout, something that most found footage films do not. Robbie can't help but make everyday moments from random life look like movies. In addition, they are literally filming parts of a music video as the camping trip begins, making room for even more memorable shots and sequences.
The crudeness of the raw audio in these scenes also lets the movie slowly show that this part of the Mojave desert isn't right. In the absence of rain, the night sky is filled with strange, thunderous noises; at dusk, the wailing of nearby animals obstructs any attempts to record anything; and only a few characters appear to acknowledge that they are having horrifying dreams.
The first two memory cards of the movie don't have a lot going on, but they have just enough to keep you interested. When the third memory card kicks in, there are enough backstories for each character to make you feel for them.
The extent to which this movie takes an extremely harsh turn when the third memory card begins cannot possibly be overstated. The second half of the movie is taken up by the third memory card, during which all of the characters go completely insane and meet an unfathomable horror.
The Outwaters are not interested in providing a comprehensive explanation of the actual horror they are experiencing. There are a few scattered clues about what might be going on, but that's not the focus of the movie.
The goal of the film is to give you a first-person perspective on what it would be like to have your life violently disrupted by a cosmic horror, similar to how you might stumble into the forests of Color Out of Space or meet Dagon by accident while fishing.
The idea that the main characters frequently cannot even comprehend what is happening to them and that witnessing the source of their horror only further shatters them is one of the tenets of cosmic horror literature, which this movie is clearly inspired by.
This feeling is brought to life in a way that almost no other movie I've ever seen has. Film is a visual medium, so creating an "unknown" presence is kind of an oxymoron. However, The Outwaters can imply absolutely monstrous things without fully showing what's happening thanks to the found footage format.
Due to the found footage format, I was initially dissatisfied with the lack of lighting in the night scenes; however, as the movie progressed, I found myself internally yelling at the characters to turn off any lights they had. Several sequences of extreme body horror will put experienced horror fans' ability to focus on the screen to the test, and not all of these scenes take place in the dark. In fact, the worst one probably plays in the sun all day.
Not only do I admire this film's dedication to putting its viewers in the shoes of brain-dead individuals, but I also believe it is extremely successful at doing so. Your opinion of The Outwaters will ultimately be determined by whether or not you are interested in experiencing that in place of a story that is more straightforward.
The Outwaters, on the other hand, is a highly recommended film for horror fans like myself. It's a very extreme movie that can be hard to get into at times, but if you stick with it, you'll get some of the most viscerally terrifying images ever seen in a found footage horror movie.
The movie's trailer can be found below if you're interested.
The horror film based on found footage, THE OUTWATERS, opens in theaters on February 9, 2023. It will only be available to stream on Screambox after it has been shown in theaters.
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