Distort
Official synopsis: A musician recording an album in the woods finds eerie cassette tapes being left for him. On them, a woman researching an urban legend was being terrorized by a man and his vicious dog. Now, the same thing is happening to the musician.
Writer/director Richard Waters’ Irish feature Distort combines folklore and urban legend with a wandering-in-the-woods found-footage horror approach. James (James Devlin) gives a solid performance as a musician recording songs in the forest who finds himself at first mystified and then terrified. Distort takes the expected sylvan fear-fare tropes such as noises outside the tent at night and increasingly enigmatic goings-on and riffs on them with a few new ideas. It’s a slow-burner that builds mystery perhaps a bit more than it does suspense, and though it also falls into some oft-asked questions regarding found footage — such as “Why keep filming when danger lurks?” — it also avoids others, such as “Who found the footage and how?”. Overall, it should be an intriguing watch, particularly for viewers who enjoy the found-footage subgenre. Make sure to watch through the end credits for some important story information.
Dream Eater
Official synopsis: A filmmaker documents her boyfriend’s violent parasomnia during their holiday at a remote cabin in the woods.
Alex Williams, Jay Drakulic, and Mallory Drumm cowrote and codirected the Canadian found footage chiller Dream Eater, and the result is an engrossing slice of fear fare. Documentarian Mallory (Drumm) and her boyfriend Alex (Williams) spend time at a remote cabin — rarely a good idea in horror films — in Quebec’s Laurentian Mountains, where his parasomnia goes from disturbing to deadly. The filmmaking trio do an admirable job of heightening the tense drama between the couple while simultaneously building an increasingly eerie atmosphere that includes Lovecraftian elements. Found-footage purists may take exception to the use of a musical score, but those willing to give that usage a pass will find composer Julian Stirpe’s work to be quite fitting. An effective tale of possession, madness, and heartbreak, Dream Eater is certainly worth a watch.
Distort and Dream Eater screened as part of this year’s Unnamed Footage Festival, which was held March 26–30. For more information, visit https://unnamedfootagefestival.com/.
