Found footage is a great technique for filmmakers to utilize when they’re working with a low budget.
Typically filmed with a hand held video camera and presented as discovered recordings, found footage films often contain lots of shaky shots and blurry or out of focus scenes.
This approach is primarily used for horror films, and is popular with adrenaline junkies for its ability to induce terror. This is often due to the realistic nature of both the film style and seemingly unscripted dialogue.
The latest entry into the found footage subgenre is “The Outwaters,” a horror/fantasy/mystery with a budget of $15,000 that follows a group of four friends as they travel to the Mojave Desert to shoot a music video.
But when things start to get weird, and I mean weird, their trip takes a turn from innocent fun to horrifically deadly.
“The Outwaters” is written and directed by Robbie Banfitch, who also stars in the film alongside Angela Bosolis, Michelle May and Scott Schamell, with everyone playing characters named after themselves.
This movie took me on a rollercoaster of emotion. From start to finish, I fluctuated between boredom, terror, confusion, disgust and ended with annoyance.
To start: boredom. “The Outwaters” takes entirely too long to get to the point. Fifty minutes worth of pointless scenes offer no help to move the plot forward, including multiple shots of earthquakes that never proved to be relevant.
Due to the style of the film, it’s hard to tell who is who. The character development was lacking, which made it difficult to differentiate the characters and follow the plot.
However, when night time comes, it is truly terrifying. With only the world’s worst flashlight to light their way, you’re left just as in the dark as the characters, which is petrifying.
Sitting in the pitch-black theater just to hear footsteps running towards you and an adult woman screaming “I want my mommy,” was enough to have me clutching my seat in absolute terror.
Since the visuals are lacking at night, Banfitch had to overcompensate with audio, and boy did he succeed. The sporadic breathing, agonizing screams and other-worldly noises were absolutely haunting and scared me more than any of the cinematography.
Photo courtesy of Blue Finch
Now we move to confusion, which is a great way to sum up the plot of “The Outwaters.” While the synopsis may seem straightforward, once the action starts, you literally have no clue what’s going on. Perhaps that’s what Banfitch was going for, but it starts to feel as if the rising action never stops.
Many scenes seem to be alluding to the cause of the massacre, but everything is so open to interpretation, there becomes a million different possibilities and no context to which theory is correct.
When it comes to gore and special effects, it can be hard to find a perfect balance between stomach-churning and “I need to leave and find a trashcan to throw up in.”
While Banfitch undoubtedly has a talent for creating realistic gore, it crossed the line and became so nauseating that multiple people left the theater, never to be seen again.
The disgusting and disturbing series of never-ending carnage quickly got in the way of the plot, overshadowing it completely. While gore is an essential part of many horror movies, the excessive sequences of self-mutilation and blood-soaked characters made the film feel more like a special effects competition and less like a motion picture.
Lastly: annoyance. After what seemed like hours of random bloody shots, I got so tired of trying to figure out what was happening, that I just stopped caring. It became clear that Banfitch wasn’t ever going to cue audiences into whatever was going on during this bizarre trip, which just pissed me off.
When you leave an audience hanging for so long, you endanger their desire to finish the film, which was the case for my experience with “The Outwaters.” Although I was determined to stay until the end, hoping to figure out what the heck I just watched, I was not fulfilled as I left the theater and left with more questions than answers.
It seems as if other audience members feel the same way. The audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes only has a 55%, so it’s odd to see that critics thought it warranted a 70%.
“The Outwaters” will no doubt terrify you, but viewers must decide whether or not they can truly stomach this film, because no amount of warning can truly prepare you for how brutal and traumatizing it can be.
This chaotic creation had its fair share of impressive aspects, but unfortunately, I think its plotless ending and over-the-top bloodshed ruined what could have been an epic found footage film.
Looking back, I can appreciate “The Outwaters” for its individual aspects, but as a whole, it was not my cup of tea.
“The Outwaters” is now available for streaming on various services including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and The Roku Channel.
