A brutal 2022 horror film with a vomit-worthy ending that has sharply divided viewers is now available to stream.
The movie, presented as resurfaced footage of four friends’ ill-fated trip to the Mojave desert to film a music video, starts off gently enough, but around the 50 minute mark it goes 0 to 60 very quickly and never lets up.
Suddenly everyone is covered in blood and losing their minds, there are cosmic visions, a menacing figure with an axe, tentacled creatures, and some extremely nasty body horror.
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One viewer wrote on film reviewing site Letterboxd: “Holy fucking s**t! Told through three memory cards - card 3 is a real fun time - we’re shown the descent into cosmic gore-filled hell!”
Another said: “It’s just a surreal onslaught of terrifying visuals and sounds, an assault on the senses in such an amazing way. There are moments where you think the horror will let up and things will go back to normal, but then it plunges right back down into maddening depths.”
The Outwaters is, in my opinion, one of the most inventive found footage films ever made. Robbie Banfitch directs, writes and stars, and his demented film hits something like the original Blair Witch Project must have done back in 1999.
But the movie isn’t for everyone - and not just because of the gore.
YouTuber Gavin Evans said of the film: “It’s just nonsense. You can’t see a thing. It’s mainly just a black screen and just a little bit of light.
“There’s almost nothing on screen and then every now and again you see a bunch of blood.”
The National Post’s Chris Knight called the movie ‘almost unwatchable’.
It is almost impossible to tell what is going on in The Outwaters much of time, but according to Banfitch that's kind of the idea.
He told website Hear Us Scream: “I enjoy plenty of found footage movies, but most of them don’t feel like authentic home movies to me.
“But right after I saw Willow Creek I got inspired. I'm like, all right, it’s still possible to make a found footage film that feels really authentically found. I’ve always wanted to make one, but not until I had a good enough idea.”
He’s also said he was inspired by the hellish video diaries of the lost crew from Event Horizon. IYKYK.
If you want to check The Outwaters out for yourself, it’s streaming now on Amazon Prime.
But about that ending? Well, if you don’t mind being spoiled and can't resist your ghoulish curiosity, here’s what happens.
Banfitch’s character (also called Robbie) has by this point completely lost his grip.
He takes a shard which looks a bit like an animal tooth - potentially from one of the hellish creatures we saw earlier - and uses it to amputate his penis.
He then disembowels himself, stumbles around the desert with his guts hanging out, before collapsing dead onto the dusty ground.
There you go. You’re welcome.
Topics: Horror, Film, TV and Film, Amazon Prime
Simon Fearn