REVIEW: THE OUTWATERS (2023)

THE OUTWATERS (2023)

Flick takes place in 2017…at least that is when the supposed found footage was filmed…with it being discovered and reassembled five years later by authorities. Simple premise has filmmaker Robbie (writer/director Robbie Banfitch) going into the desert with his brother Scott (Scott Schamell), singer Michelle (Michelle May) and friend Angela (Angela Basolis) to film a music video. Once there they start to hear strange thunderous sounds in the night, see lights in the sky and soon the trip turns into a blood-soaked nightmare.

Found footage horror is written and directed by New Jersey native Robbie Banfitch and starts off like most found footage with the first third being relatively eventless and letting us get to know our four characters. The middle is where the weirdness begins as they start hearing strange sounds at night, bizarre humming coming from within the ground and bright lights in the night sky. Soon Banfitch lets the flick degenerate into a disturbing and trippy series of nightmarish scenes and very gruesome images. We see cast members covered in blood, screaming worm-like creatures, a mysterious figure with an axe, a strange herd of donkey’s and possibly a Lovecraftian creature. Most of this is seen through character Robbie’s camera eye and within its minimal light so we only get fleeting glimpses, and the writer/director isn’t letting us in on too much of the cause or reason, either. There are a few hints here and there as to what these four unfortunate people wandered into, but mostly it’s up to you to use your own imagination. The film was never really outright scary but does provide a nightmarish ride through a last act of some very gruesome and unsettling images that will stick with you after it’s over. The cast all perform well enough to be portraying real people in lost footage and the visual eye and cinematography from filmmaker Robbie Banfitch is quite effective, as are the gory make-up effects portraying the creatures and carnage.

Overall, it doesn’t quite live up to its online hype, but does show a filmmaker with some bold ideas and who’s not afraid to put his audience through a little hell. Worth checking out.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 3 (out of 4) axes.

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