Movie Review: Butterfly Kisses (2017)

Ol’ Gavin York finds a box of tapes in his in-laws house that purports to show two filmmakers investigating an urban legend that goes by the handle of Peeping Tom and lives in a tunnel where he moves ever closer as you blink (what’s a Weeping Angel?) until he is close enough to give you a “butterfly kiss”, the eyelash touching flutter thing dopes do when they are trying to be a “cute couple”. Well that duo mentioned above survive their initial encounter with the entity, but he is soon hunting them which makes them go insane. Anyway, York decides to make a documentary about the incident (which he documents the making of…) and he runs into opposition a-plenty including the fact that everyone thinks he’s a first class wing-nut, and soon his grip on reality begins slipping as well!
As you may have surmised, Butterfly Kisses is one of your found footage fright flicks; this time presented primarily as a documentary. Being crafted in this manner, the picture actually manages to build a rather believable reality for itself, and it certainly engages the viewer in it’s world of urban legends and insanity, much to the credit of Writer/Director Erik Kristopher Myers. Also to it’s credit, Butterfly Kisses, unlike most of it’s found footage brethren keeps the jump scares to a minimum, and relies on world building and tension to build it’s horror biz terror tale.
On the down side, York is a pretty unlikable dude, and no matter what shit befalls him, it’s hard to generate sympathy for his character. That may be a stumbling block for some viewers, and may cause audience members to detach from the narrative.
If you’re looking for a found footage flick that goes a tad against the grain and delivers a great bit of mythology and a convincing sense of reality, then give Butterfly Kisses a go; it won’t necessarily scare the pants off from ya, but it definitely will give you some good chills!