Are you afraid of the dark? If not, after watching?The Outwaters, you might be.
Written and directed by Robbie Banfitch, The Outwaters tells the story of four young men and women who embark on a shoot in the Mojave Desert. Told entirely through ?three memory cards? discovered after their disappearance, Outwaters follows this foursome as they begin to create a music video for their friend in the wilderness. However, even though their trip begins as intended, soon they find themselves troubled by disturbing sounds and (un)natural phenomenon. Building in intensity over time, the disturbances eventually erupt in chaos.
The found footage genre has disappeared in recent years, finally playing itself out of the minds of the pop culture zeitgeist. After bursting onto the scene with The Blair Witch Project, franchises like Paranormal Activity and Chronicle overused the gimmick to the point that eyes began to roll when another film of this type was announced. As box office returns waned, the genre eventually faded away. But that works to Outwaters?advantage. With few other examples on screen, Banfitch?s commitment to the genre?s style and its devices suddenly feels fresh again.
And, frankly, Outwaters depends on them.
By using only the smallest of flashlights during night scenes, Outwaters immerses the viewer into almost total darkness. Rather than reveal the madness in all its glory, this is a film that plays on the deepest fears that exist offscreen. Almost everyone can relate to fear of the dark on some level and Outwaters intensifies that to terrifying levels. At the same time, much credit must be given to the sound design for blending natural noises with some of the most blood-curdling screams of recent memory. Every grunt, screech and cry for help leaves the viewer in the midst of a deeply unsettling chaos of shadows. (As one woman screams, ?What is happening??, the viewer also finds themselves asking the same question with similar urgency.)
With an ever-growing chaos, Banfitch wants to literally unleash hell on his characters. Faced with vicious weather, mysterious creatures and, of course, brutal violence, these innocents are left to fend for themselves in a world that has no shelter from the storm, the one exception being the small smidgen of light that they carry with them.
But the light only offers so much solace.
Because they have so little light to shine, the darkness here is all-encompassing. There?s a certain level of comfort in knowing what?s coming after you?but Outwaters never lets the viewer get comfortable. Here, rather than scare away the villains, the light only reveals the evil that attacks them in pieces. In essence, these characters are left to flee an evil that they fail to understand or see. As the darkness increases and things progressively get worse?and they do get worse?these characters begin to fray emotionally. Hope feels fleeting and terror replaces joy.
To say too much more would be a disservice but, suffice to say, The Outwaters is an unsettling experience? but that?s exactly what Banfitch wants. This provides the sort of bone-rattling terror that we haven?t seen since those teens embarked into the woods in Blair Witch and invites the viewer on a truly terrifying ride into the darkness.
The Outwaters is available in theatres on Friday, February 9th, 2023.
