Movie Review: The Outwaters (2023)
The Outwaters is a found-footage horror film written and directed by Robbie Banfitch. It also stars Banfitch along with Angela Basolis, Michelle May, and Scott Schamell. It is about two brothers (Robbie, and Scott) and their two friends (Michelle, and Leslie) who are going into the Mojave desert to shoot a music video. Robbie is a filmmaker, Michelle is a musician, and their friend Ange is a hairdresser who is going to do hair for the video shoot and traveled from the East Coast. The film is separated into 3 title cards, which consist of the content found on each of the memory cards.
The film starts off pretty strong with a phone call to 911 with some unintelligible screaming in the background. This was a great segway into the first card, which brings us back to the beginning where the friends are all meeting up, listening to music, Michelle is practicing some songs, and just overall character introductions. When they finally arrive at the desert, they are all messing around and they all end up camping out in the desert when night falls.
Why did they decide to camp in the middle of the desert for a few days instead of just shooting the music video? Who knows. But here they are. So they are camping and hearing loud noises that sound like a gunshot mixed with a boom of thunder along with some other loud sounds and noises coming from outside, seemingly somewhat close to them. Strange noises and sounds are somewhat of a staple in this film. There are a lot of unpleasant sounds, which are put there for a reason, and it is to attack your eardrums. While we definitely get and appreciate why they are as obnoxious as they are at times, and it definitely adds to the odd atmosphere of this film, it can also be jarring and detract from the experience.
The visuals in this film were very hit-and-miss. There are times when all you can see is a small circle of light from the flashlight, which is about the size of a softball. Again, it was probably intended to add to the atmosphere, and maybe for budgetary reasons, but there is a lot of just aimlessly running around the desert like this. There were also some visual effects that were outstanding. There was a lot of Lovecraft influence here, and that definitely shined in this film. There were some awesome practical effects that deserve a mention here as well, and, while it was often hard to see what was happening at night, there was some decent gore and enough happening in the daytime to give you an idea of what was playing out.
Overall, we think The Outwaters is a pretty decent found-footage horror film. It initially seems like it leans on the formula of something akin to Blair Witch in the desert but brought some interesting sound design that was intended to make the viewer uncomfortable, and the Lovecraft influence, which combined made The Outwaters step out of that formula and into its own. We would recommend this film to anyone into found-footage films, cosmic horror, or just anyone who wants their senses attacked for a couple of hours.
The Outwaters is streaming everywhere as of 2/17/23. Check it out on Screambox.com, the Screambox app, or get a free trial on Amazon for Screambox and check it out there! It’s also available to rent or buy at these locations: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-outwaters
Trailer:
