If only there was more footage of Gary, rather than interview after interview whose mission is to delay the inevitable, this movie would be better. But is watchable enough and the final 20 minutes are actually creepy and made with plenty of suspenseful talent.
179 Reviews
pretty good!
nublingnoob4 September 2021
Lost in the backwoods of Nevada
gedikreverdi13 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Gary went missing in the backwoods of Nevada and they interviewed with his older sister, roommate, a journalist and the private detective that Beverly hired. It went on pretty much like an episode from daily crime scene investigation. They kept talking about how Gary went missing, his relationship with those people and his blog. Gary's sister thought his roommate was suspicious and people thought Beverly held resent against him because he caused their parents die on a night fishing expedition. I thought I was watching a whodunnit mystery but it turned out totally different. He was killed by a man with physical deformities when he once again went over to his makeshift cabin in the middle of nowhere. His severed head and the tapes were found by a camper couple. It was deliberately put there so that it could be found. But they didn't elaborate on who, where and how. It seems like police couldn't spot their location. I felt like there's no payoff. The tapes showing how he encountered with the man at night out in the wilderness by the small cabin was really creepy. But that's about it. I wasn't bored at all though. I think it could have been better if we see the incident thru the eyes of Gary like it was all his recordings.
Just skip the first 45 minutes.
twesterm-104336 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The first 45 minutes of this film are pretty much a waste. All you need to know is Gary is a guy that likes to go on hikes and he disappears. You learn this in the first few minutes of the movie and then they spend 45 minutes on that.
At some point, they suddenly realize this guy has a blog and someone actually thinks to look at it. Things pick up a little, but not really enough to save the movie. They spend another 10-15 minutes just amazed that this guy has a blog and then finally get to his final day.
At the end there's a final sequence that starts out pretty tense...and then it just keeps going. Gary and the killer play cat and mouse around a tree for a long time until the killer finally gets him.
This is one of those movies where you know they had about 20-30 minutes of movie and then did everything they could to hit that feature length, including plugging a sequel. Just skip until they find the blog, that's about where the movie actually should have started.
At some point, they suddenly realize this guy has a blog and someone actually thinks to look at it. Things pick up a little, but not really enough to save the movie. They spend another 10-15 minutes just amazed that this guy has a blog and then finally get to his final day.
At the end there's a final sequence that starts out pretty tense...and then it just keeps going. Gary and the killer play cat and mouse around a tree for a long time until the killer finally gets him.
This is one of those movies where you know they had about 20-30 minutes of movie and then did everything they could to hit that feature length, including plugging a sequel. Just skip until they find the blog, that's about where the movie actually should have started.
Slow build up, fairly good end sequence
jtindahouse11 June 2021
I understand that Found Footage movies are typically about building up to the big ending, and that's fine, but I do prefer it when the meat of the film has a little more going on that just interviewing 5 or so people and chopping between them intermittently. It's only 82 minutes long the film luckily, but the first 67 minutes are basically just this. It can test your patience a little. The final 15 minutes though was a very well done sequence for the most part.
When we finally get to the action 'Horror in the high Desert' does have something to offer. The camera angles, the noise (what was that noise?) and the suspenseful timing were all very well done. The only thing that it forgot is that it's what you don't see that is always scarier than what you do. We saw too much and it ruined it a little for me. That's being a little bit nit-picky though.
If you've got some patience then this one could be for you. It seems to be setting itself up for a sequel too, so look out for that if you enjoy it. 7/10.
When we finally get to the action 'Horror in the high Desert' does have something to offer. The camera angles, the noise (what was that noise?) and the suspenseful timing were all very well done. The only thing that it forgot is that it's what you don't see that is always scarier than what you do. We saw too much and it ruined it a little for me. That's being a little bit nit-picky though.
If you've got some patience then this one could be for you. It seems to be setting itself up for a sequel too, so look out for that if you enjoy it. 7/10.
Slowly Goes Downhill
anthonyender11 April 2023
It's the easiest way to make a micro-budget film, do a faux documentary that ends with found footage. You can use a lot of photos instead of actually filming anything, have random location shots where nothing is happening, and you never have to stage scenes with actors, just have people sit and be a talking head. And this one starts off seeming to get everything right. The faux actors are believable, the disappearance at the heart of the plot starts getting mysterious, and then after only about twenty minutes it starts sliding progressively downhill. It don't help when you have all these characters (including an investigative journalist who apparently doesn't know how to investigate anything) talking about how super-intelligent and together the missing character is and when we finally see video of him he talks and acts like he just got out of his "special" class for those of, shall we say, far less than average intelligence. Then we spend the next half hour going nowhere with subplots suddenly abandoned or forgotten about and the mystery becomes rather obvious, and then we conclude with ten minutes of "found footage" which is so poorly shot, directed, and overall underwhelming it kinda makes you angry. Shoulda turned it off when the talking heads kept telling how dramatic one of the missing characters last videos was, and then they just say "that video got accidentally erased"; which I took to mean the actors performance was so horrible they couldn't even use a clip of it. And the climactic found footage is literally as bad as you can get. Unless you get scared staring at the same bush under infrared light. One bush. That's pretty much it. From a solid 8/10 in the first few minutes all the way down to 3/10 says it all.
A Masterclass in Low Budget/Indie Filmmaking
JackCowart3421 May 2022
Horror in the high desert is a cinematic feat that very few people could pull off. Dutch Marich is the director, writer, cinematographer, producer, and editor of this extraordinary mockumentary horror film based on the true story of Kenny Veach. It's beautifully shot, with acting that is surprisingly impressive for a cast that had relatively no experience in feature films. The dialogue was sharp, and the ending is as tense as it could've possibly been with the budgetary constraints the filmmaker was under. If I was ever going to attempt to get into filmmaking, this is the blueprint I would follow. Marich was able to maintain creative freedom because of the lack of studio interference and the extremely low production costs. Nonetheless, he crafts a stunning film with an abundance of creativity and some palpable suspense and mystique. He deserves all of the credit for this original piece of art that incorporates fright, thrills, and the influence social media has on an individuals ego as it relates to decision making.
Damn the good reviews got me
deadbydawn201325 July 2021
It's absolute rubbish. Really, really bad. I read the good reviews here and thought even if it's not that good it must be worth a watch? Wow was I wrong.
It starts off with various people who know the missing guy talking direct to camera explaining a bit about him, what he's like etc interspersed with photos of him in the wilderness to show he's an outdoors guy who likes hiking. It's really boring but I thought ok this will be done in 10-15 minutes and we'll see some found footage and it will start getting creepy. Nope. This continues for almost the whole film, people describing what happened instead of actually seeing any footage and it's incredibly boring.
There's a small amount of footage right at the end but it's so badly done and dragged out that I even felt like fast forwarding that. The whole thing is ultra-low budget and it really shows, no clever camera shots or techniques to make up for the minimal budget either. The whole thing feels totally amateurish and has no scares whatsoever.
It starts off with various people who know the missing guy talking direct to camera explaining a bit about him, what he's like etc interspersed with photos of him in the wilderness to show he's an outdoors guy who likes hiking. It's really boring but I thought ok this will be done in 10-15 minutes and we'll see some found footage and it will start getting creepy. Nope. This continues for almost the whole film, people describing what happened instead of actually seeing any footage and it's incredibly boring.
There's a small amount of footage right at the end but it's so badly done and dragged out that I even felt like fast forwarding that. The whole thing is ultra-low budget and it really shows, no clever camera shots or techniques to make up for the minimal budget either. The whole thing feels totally amateurish and has no scares whatsoever.
Best Way to Watch
ChilledGhosty9 May 2021
Don't read anything about the plot. It's not well known, they use actors that not only can act but also look like real people, and it's filmed like a documentary. So let your significant other know you heard about a really good REAL scary documentary. By the end you'll both be watching wide eyed while holding your breath...
It's an hour and five minutes too long.
RandomFlux18 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
For some strange reason I have seen nothing but good reviews for this film and I have yet to understand why.
It's done in a true crime tv documentary style. There are interviews with the people involved interspersed with film snippets from the missing person's camera.
This is well executed and the actors are believable.
But that's the most positive thing I can say about the movie.
Is this a horror movie? I suppose if you've never seen one before you might consider this a horror movie.
Is it suspenseful? Does it draw you in? Is it scary?
No, no and hell no.
The entire movie could be cut to 15 minutes and the results would be the same.
In fact, turning it into a short probably would have improved it.
As a fan of the found footage genre I recommend giving this one a pass.
It's done in a true crime tv documentary style. There are interviews with the people involved interspersed with film snippets from the missing person's camera.
This is well executed and the actors are believable.
But that's the most positive thing I can say about the movie.
Is this a horror movie? I suppose if you've never seen one before you might consider this a horror movie.
Is it suspenseful? Does it draw you in? Is it scary?
No, no and hell no.
The entire movie could be cut to 15 minutes and the results would be the same.
In fact, turning it into a short probably would have improved it.
As a fan of the found footage genre I recommend giving this one a pass.
Watch it thinking it's a documentary.
deloudelouvain18 October 2022
In a way I could understand the lower ratings this movie/mockumentary gets, that is if you were informed about this being fiction before you started watching it. My wife and I on the other hand thought we were watching a documentary about a mysterious disappearance in Nevada. Until the last fifteen minutes we had no clue at all, so credits to the actors for that. They did a really good job playing the interviewees, it looked very sincere. After that it became obvious this wasn't a true story, but still we had our fun believing it, and there was a good mysterious vibe to it. My wife is from Reno, Nevada so her knowing most of those places gave it a little punch as well. It's only after seeing the end credits that we were 100% sure it was all made up. So for that I score this movie way higher than the rest of the reviewers as we were both entertained and sucked into the story immediately. If you had to recommend this movie to a friend or so I suggest you tell them it's a documentary, it will for sure have a better success. I'm glad we thought it was, the experience was just way better like this.
An Enjoyable Found Footage Indie
lorrisaj28 May 2021
Horror in the High Desert does a nice slow burn and then becomes fairly unnerving at the film's conclusion. This is only the second "found footage" film I've ever seen, "The Blair Witch Project" being the other. Genre-novice viewer as I am, all I can say is that this is a well-made (if not vaguely similar to "Blair Witch"), and if you stick with it, suspenseful movie. Toward the end, my own tension was palpable. Some of the other reviews here read as if the reviewer was jaded and weary of similarly envisioned "found footage" films. My own opinion is that this is an effectively executed and well-done movie that fans new to the genre will enjoy.
Slow burn with no payoff.
ReelReviewer91113 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
So many obviously fake reviewers and voters! Ignore them! Honest reviewer here..
Review: Good idea especially for FF but poorly executed. It did keep me watching though. It deserves credit there. The end makes you wish you never turned it on because it's lacking for sure.
Barely pulls you in but never delivers the goods. The end try's to set it up for a sequel...
Review: Good idea especially for FF but poorly executed. It did keep me watching though. It deserves credit there. The end makes you wish you never turned it on because it's lacking for sure.
Barely pulls you in but never delivers the goods. The end try's to set it up for a sequel...
Unfortunately
yuzuruizawa24 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Unfortunaly the saying is truth...
no money
no ideas
no scares
let´s make it found footage.
Fake mockumentary about the life of a lost person... it goes waaaaay toooo looooong without anything happening. Yes, a documentary about a missing person can be long, but it would talk about a special person with a special life or special death. None of this is truth. Average hiker dissappears and somebody would have made a 3 hour long interview with their dull friends and family saying that he dissappeared.
It is then you insert some mystery, intrigue, a strange car, a fake out, a glimpse of something... no, nothing. At least god invented fast forward but it REALLY shouldn´t be a 5. As many other have said, I think it is obvious that the reviews giving glorious ratings are fake. The ones about how they thought it was a real documentary can be real people with cognitive disabilities.
Fake mockumentary about the life of a lost person... it goes waaaaay toooo looooong without anything happening. Yes, a documentary about a missing person can be long, but it would talk about a special person with a special life or special death. None of this is truth. Average hiker dissappears and somebody would have made a 3 hour long interview with their dull friends and family saying that he dissappeared.
It is then you insert some mystery, intrigue, a strange car, a fake out, a glimpse of something... no, nothing. At least god invented fast forward but it REALLY shouldn´t be a 5. As many other have said, I think it is obvious that the reviews giving glorious ratings are fake. The ones about how they thought it was a real documentary can be real people with cognitive disabilities.
Kenny Veach case adaptation with a twist
KikyNez12 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
So this is a mockumentary fusion with found footage movie, with a start of a thriller ending on a horror note.
I read the plot summary and decided to watch it because the resemblance to Kenny Veach disappearance was uncanny.
The movie isn't about Kenny Veach but "Gary" is really close to what he could have be.
First I felt a little bored untill I got hit by the characyer development and the good acting of the actress playing the sister and the music.
Couldn't stop watching till the end so hooked and involved.
For me was surprisingly good as I'm not fan of mockumentary films. And only a few movies on this genre really got me (as instance The Veil, Ejecta, or even The hive 2015). Nordo I like found footage movies.
But this one make a great union of genres and did develope in the plot and "scares".
For me is a strong 7/10.
I recommend it.
The good: acting, music, setting
The bad: slow pace at first and some scenes were unnecessary.
The best: music (again), that ending. The use of a real event to make an adaptation for people who knows the case could see the resemblance.
Watch at your own risk.
We are all critics, but remember that we must watch to make a critic.
I read the plot summary and decided to watch it because the resemblance to Kenny Veach disappearance was uncanny.
The movie isn't about Kenny Veach but "Gary" is really close to what he could have be.
First I felt a little bored untill I got hit by the characyer development and the good acting of the actress playing the sister and the music.
Couldn't stop watching till the end so hooked and involved.
For me was surprisingly good as I'm not fan of mockumentary films. And only a few movies on this genre really got me (as instance The Veil, Ejecta, or even The hive 2015). Nordo I like found footage movies.
But this one make a great union of genres and did develope in the plot and "scares".
For me is a strong 7/10.
I recommend it.
The good: acting, music, setting
The bad: slow pace at first and some scenes were unnecessary.
The best: music (again), that ending. The use of a real event to make an adaptation for people who knows the case could see the resemblance.
Watch at your own risk.
We are all critics, but remember that we must watch to make a critic.
Honest review
dwight-075932 September 2021
It would appear that a lot of fake reviews are here. The movie was VERY slow and dull. There was no mystery to the ending. Definitely no sequel is going to happen. But I did give it a 5 because the last 20 minutes actual were pretty creepy. I suggest skimming the first hour in 5 or 10 minutes, and then just watch the last 20.
Enjoyable, warts and all..
SJLiam24 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It is a sturdy little film and the ending is tense and unnerving, but that last 10/15 minutes could have just as easily been released to YouTube and it would have been equally effective. Knowing over an hour of backstory for 10 mins of film just feels heavy. There were also some production issues (why was the reporter so badly lit while the sister looked like she had a professional film crew, for one) and needless subplots (Why was there a room mate? What was his purpose? And was it necessary to make the Gary secretly gay? Why did that matter?) lead to that feeling of a lot of tact on story. Furthermore, anyone who has heard of Reddit knows that if this had all come to a head on a blog, they would have triangulated the location of that cabin and taken pictures by the time the sister found the blog. They'll do the work the cops and volunteers don't care enough to do. I really wanted to love it and I mostly do. It's well over the average horror movie these days, but with SO much media out there, is "just above average" worth the investment? Lastly, the painfully obvious set up for a sequel was painfully obvious... (I can't believe I had to sign up for ANOTHER streaming service just to watch this this, either!)
Ugghh!
mammogramkid16 October 2021
The lead character sounds like the muppet Fozzy Bear and uses UM almost every 15 seconds whe he speaks. UM I guess I'll UM see if I can UM take a picture UM of the UM cabin. UM So people can UM See UM that I'm not UM lying UM. I turned on the CC so I didn't have to listen anymore or I would have jabbed a pen in my ears to silence the idiotic babble.
Horror soup
olcayozfirat2 March 2022
They mixed up a lot of movies.
Recipe: 1 full glass of water (see blair witch) 1/2 cup (see the hills have eyes) 1/2 cup (see wrong turn) 1 pinch (see slender man)
Mix well with a whisk in a large bowl. Suspense music is added as a sauce. Ready to serve.
In order to give it a realism, the film is both an interview and one of those movies shot with a handheld camera. We listen to the speech of 3 people for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Always accompanied by conjunctions in the form of "aaaaand".
--- 'spoilers' ---
Synopsis: Someone named Gery has gone missing. When her sister can't reach it, she informs the police. He has a roommate but he doesn't know about Gery either. They are searching, they are searching, there is no news from the man. Then they find that this is a nature survival type blog owner. In the last videos found there, he found a hut in the wilderness. Followers do not believe. This goes one more time for proof. This is the last video.
--- 'spoilers' ---
A mind-blowing movie that can't even be considered mediocre.
Recipe: 1 full glass of water (see blair witch) 1/2 cup (see the hills have eyes) 1/2 cup (see wrong turn) 1 pinch (see slender man)
Mix well with a whisk in a large bowl. Suspense music is added as a sauce. Ready to serve.
In order to give it a realism, the film is both an interview and one of those movies shot with a handheld camera. We listen to the speech of 3 people for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Always accompanied by conjunctions in the form of "aaaaand".
--- 'spoilers' ---
Synopsis: Someone named Gery has gone missing. When her sister can't reach it, she informs the police. He has a roommate but he doesn't know about Gery either. They are searching, they are searching, there is no news from the man. Then they find that this is a nature survival type blog owner. In the last videos found there, he found a hut in the wilderness. Followers do not believe. This goes one more time for proof. This is the last video.
--- 'spoilers' ---
A mind-blowing movie that can't even be considered mediocre.
A worthwhile found footage horror documentary
adrianjettleon19 May 2022
I'd originally heard about this film on Twitter through the horror community and the general consensus was that it was worth a watch. Like I do with all indie movies, I checked my expectations and baggage at the door and met the movie on its own terms. I was rewarded with an interesting, creepy and entertaining experience. After I discover an indie gem, I like to hop online to see what other people thought and, funny enough, a lot of people on different platforms were wondering aloud if the movie was real. The last time I saw talk like that was when Blair With Project was released. This in and of itself is an achievement. Another thing is that I'm very familiar with the Nevada wilderness. I've lived in Nevada since I was 18 months old, I enjoy camping and have traveled from one end of the State to the other. I've been in some creepy places and watching this film was subtle nightmare fuel for me. I've seen some complaints that there were too many talking head segments but that didn't bother me at all. I was happily following the story which I found to be intriguing. Typically, my least favorite part of found footage is the ultra-shaky camera work. For example, as much as I love Hell House, LLC, I had to look away a few times as the motion sickness factor is real for me. That wasn't a problem with Horror in the High Desert at all. Overall, it was a creepy viewing experience- what more could I ask for?
A Solid Movie Done No Favors By Comparisons
chrisdewickey21 September 2022
Look: at the end of the day, this is a solid little Found Footage movie. It's creepy, it's efficient, and without spoiling anything the last 20 minutes or so is very well done. The problem is that it presents itself as a fully formed Found Documentary, so it can't help but be compared to FF movies in that style that work better.
"Lake Mungo". "Noroi: The Curse". In my opinion, these are great movies that take full advantage of the fact they are fake documentaries to give us an emotional attachment to the characters. "Horror in the High Desert" basically gives us a solid entry as far as scares are concerned, but nothing that's memorable in the same way as those other movies. That's fine, but still a little bit disappointing. Is it completely fair to the movie to immediately compare it to other titles done in the same style? Probably not, and I admit that, but the fact is that those other titles are still out there. It's like making a Samurai movie: you can't help but be compared to classics like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Found Documentary is a little bit more niche but it still presents the same issue.
Worth watching all the same.
"Lake Mungo". "Noroi: The Curse". In my opinion, these are great movies that take full advantage of the fact they are fake documentaries to give us an emotional attachment to the characters. "Horror in the High Desert" basically gives us a solid entry as far as scares are concerned, but nothing that's memorable in the same way as those other movies. That's fine, but still a little bit disappointing. Is it completely fair to the movie to immediately compare it to other titles done in the same style? Probably not, and I admit that, but the fact is that those other titles are still out there. It's like making a Samurai movie: you can't help but be compared to classics like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Found Documentary is a little bit more niche but it still presents the same issue.
Worth watching all the same.
This movie WAS horror(ible) - to watch!!!
romneymeredith20 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
To all of you who are giving high ratings to this pathetic excuse for a 'movie' - you are full of it and you know it. You have to either know people in the film or are the people in the film. The rating is simply far too high - anything above a 1 is too high.
Let me help those of you who read the reviews to save 1 hour and 22 minutes of your life - if you want to watch good horror try 'Wer' or 'Honeymoon', both on Tubi TV as this one was.
I love desert movies and I love horror, and they did show the desert but horror was nowhere to be found. If you want narration about a crime that is actually compelling then watch 'The First 48' series that films real homicide detectives trying to solve real crimes. The only crime in this movie was suckering the viewers like me into thinking there was going to be some interesting horror. Let me break the movie down for you:
Several people are interviewed during most of the movie, talking and talking and talking about Gary as if he was some monumental figure. He isn't. He's actually deadly dull, loves trains, has no career aspirations, lives with a roommate who has no curiosity as to where Gary goes on wilderness trips, is apparently super smart (no way!) but is actually so dumb that whenever he goes for an extended trip into the high desert HE TELLS NO ONE WHERE HE IS GOING OR HOW LONG HE WILL BE GONE. Repeatedly. Including his stupid sister who is so stupid that KNOWING he's often gone for a week called 911 to report him missing after TWO DAYS! Oh yeah, this genius limits the provisions and water he takes so he can practice survival skills, a lot of which he videos with a handheld camera and posts to his blog that supposedly has 50,000 followers (why??? He is so freaking boring!!!) and yet none of his relatives or friends are aware of the blog.
Anyhow, the interviews are filmed weeks after they already know what happened to Gary. So that you do not waste your time on a completely unscary movie, Gary had found some shack in the high desert with smoke coming out of the chimney, left and then came back at night with infrared turned on with the camera to find out who lives there, one of the dumbest possible things to do since it is dangerous in a dark desert when all the creepy crawlies including rattlesnakes are active, spots a disfigured man near the shack and the 'found footage' from Gary's camera manages to bore the viewers' socks off with shaky close-ups of the ground, bushes, and trees just because. Gary takes a gun out (when did he get that???), shoots about 6 times at the figure who has a machete and whose face eventually is captured in the final shot, just before he chopped off Gary's camera hand. We know this because they show a picture of it still gripping the camera. As soon as Gary saw the man with the machete, who honestly may have feared that someone was going to rob him, why didn't Gary LEAVE!??? The other guy had no light initially, but later lit a torch and even then in complete darkness would never have been able to track Gary nor catch up with him.
The movie ends with them babbling that other social media followers are attempting to identify the shack and the man who killed him. And one of them claims that they'll know by 2022, as if the film maker thinks people are stupid enough to clamor for a sequel.
Frankly, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen even if the interviews did a good job of appearing real. That's because there was zero horror anywhere - you didn't even see Gary get his hand chopped off. I'll bet they made this movie for the cost of pizzas for the entire crew and $5,000 for the editing and adding music for the soundtrack. The found footage which is always supposed to be the most compelling part of any found footage movie is sleep-inducing and I detest the laziness of the director (Dutch Maritch) who also wrote this movie in making it. At least he wrote about a place he knew because Dutch was raised in the real town of Ruth, Nevada, where the movie is set. Dutch, since I'm positive you read all the reviews of your own movie, PLEASE think about what horror is actually about. You don't need to copy other movies but the good ones should be instructive to you. Do you honestly believe that people find your movie at all good that aren't your friends and relatives? I think there was a real horror movie hidden there somewhere but the pedestrian plotting and slow plodding of the movie killed it, along with the laughable final found footage.
Let me help those of you who read the reviews to save 1 hour and 22 minutes of your life - if you want to watch good horror try 'Wer' or 'Honeymoon', both on Tubi TV as this one was.
I love desert movies and I love horror, and they did show the desert but horror was nowhere to be found. If you want narration about a crime that is actually compelling then watch 'The First 48' series that films real homicide detectives trying to solve real crimes. The only crime in this movie was suckering the viewers like me into thinking there was going to be some interesting horror. Let me break the movie down for you:
Several people are interviewed during most of the movie, talking and talking and talking about Gary as if he was some monumental figure. He isn't. He's actually deadly dull, loves trains, has no career aspirations, lives with a roommate who has no curiosity as to where Gary goes on wilderness trips, is apparently super smart (no way!) but is actually so dumb that whenever he goes for an extended trip into the high desert HE TELLS NO ONE WHERE HE IS GOING OR HOW LONG HE WILL BE GONE. Repeatedly. Including his stupid sister who is so stupid that KNOWING he's often gone for a week called 911 to report him missing after TWO DAYS! Oh yeah, this genius limits the provisions and water he takes so he can practice survival skills, a lot of which he videos with a handheld camera and posts to his blog that supposedly has 50,000 followers (why??? He is so freaking boring!!!) and yet none of his relatives or friends are aware of the blog.
Anyhow, the interviews are filmed weeks after they already know what happened to Gary. So that you do not waste your time on a completely unscary movie, Gary had found some shack in the high desert with smoke coming out of the chimney, left and then came back at night with infrared turned on with the camera to find out who lives there, one of the dumbest possible things to do since it is dangerous in a dark desert when all the creepy crawlies including rattlesnakes are active, spots a disfigured man near the shack and the 'found footage' from Gary's camera manages to bore the viewers' socks off with shaky close-ups of the ground, bushes, and trees just because. Gary takes a gun out (when did he get that???), shoots about 6 times at the figure who has a machete and whose face eventually is captured in the final shot, just before he chopped off Gary's camera hand. We know this because they show a picture of it still gripping the camera. As soon as Gary saw the man with the machete, who honestly may have feared that someone was going to rob him, why didn't Gary LEAVE!??? The other guy had no light initially, but later lit a torch and even then in complete darkness would never have been able to track Gary nor catch up with him.
The movie ends with them babbling that other social media followers are attempting to identify the shack and the man who killed him. And one of them claims that they'll know by 2022, as if the film maker thinks people are stupid enough to clamor for a sequel.
Frankly, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen even if the interviews did a good job of appearing real. That's because there was zero horror anywhere - you didn't even see Gary get his hand chopped off. I'll bet they made this movie for the cost of pizzas for the entire crew and $5,000 for the editing and adding music for the soundtrack. The found footage which is always supposed to be the most compelling part of any found footage movie is sleep-inducing and I detest the laziness of the director (Dutch Maritch) who also wrote this movie in making it. At least he wrote about a place he knew because Dutch was raised in the real town of Ruth, Nevada, where the movie is set. Dutch, since I'm positive you read all the reviews of your own movie, PLEASE think about what horror is actually about. You don't need to copy other movies but the good ones should be instructive to you. Do you honestly believe that people find your movie at all good that aren't your friends and relatives? I think there was a real horror movie hidden there somewhere but the pedestrian plotting and slow plodding of the movie killed it, along with the laughable final found footage.
40 + minutes of suspense and irritation for 20 minutes of underwhelming found footage
ilovefabian-8899914 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
As a huge fan of horror & found footage, I think the biggest issue I had with this film is that the first 40 minutes out of a 1 hour and 20 minute movie were just interviews of family members, talking about their memory of the main character, his personality and passions. Then they give 5 minutes of "found footage" and go right back to interview of the family's opinion on what we all just saw for another 10 minutes. The total amount of found footage horror in the entire film is may e 15-20 minutes and it's very underwhelming
The concept was fantastic but the suspense leading up to what you had to wait for far too long for wasn't worth it at all. Maybe if I thought it was a real documentary beforehand, but even then I would have been annoyed to realize it wasn't true.
3/10 because the idea was amazing. It just didn't play out well.
The concept was fantastic but the suspense leading up to what you had to wait for far too long for wasn't worth it at all. Maybe if I thought it was a real documentary beforehand, but even then I would have been annoyed to realize it wasn't true.
3/10 because the idea was amazing. It just didn't play out well.
Thought it was a documentary
therese_c15 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
If you went in seeing this not knowing it's a movie, it's amazing. It got all of those elements needed for a good true crime documentary. But I believe if you went in and saw this with the knowledge it's a movie, I can guess it's not appreciated as much.
I enjoyed it a lot. It really had me in a strong grip until the very end. Ending was frightening, but that's also when I realized it wasn't a documentary. I really don't like horror movies with jump scares so this was hard to watch, when he moved in the forest and you just waited for something to show in the camera. So spooky. Especially when you think it's a DOCUMENTARY. I was on needles. When he films the cabin for a long time and a guy suddenly starts moving in the bushes in front of the cabin out of nowhere, I got so scared thinking it was real! But after that one scene it was clear it wasn't a documentary anymore. Still very good. Hope more people find this movie the way I found it, as a documentary recommendation on TikTok, with no clue what they're in for :)
I enjoyed it a lot. It really had me in a strong grip until the very end. Ending was frightening, but that's also when I realized it wasn't a documentary. I really don't like horror movies with jump scares so this was hard to watch, when he moved in the forest and you just waited for something to show in the camera. So spooky. Especially when you think it's a DOCUMENTARY. I was on needles. When he films the cabin for a long time and a guy suddenly starts moving in the bushes in front of the cabin out of nowhere, I got so scared thinking it was real! But after that one scene it was clear it wasn't a documentary anymore. Still very good. Hope more people find this movie the way I found it, as a documentary recommendation on TikTok, with no clue what they're in for :)
So glad I didn't pay to watch
sirscumish29 August 2021
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