It's ironic that the Fathom Film Company produced a film that is totally unfathomable. The Outwaters' three act structure is represented by three memory cards. Card 1 is long-winded, card 2 shows promise, and card 3 is a consistently inconsistent, incoherent, directionless mess. The Outwaters could be summed up as a mix of Triangle meets Devil's Pass, with some Lovecraft thrown in for good measure, and you might be on the way to deciphering this movie - you also might not.
Though the film clearly states in its opening that it's ordered 'chronologically', this is false, and is just the start of the film, and its lead, being unreliable narrators. Along with time, other themes include repetition, wombs, mothers, blood (lots of blood), alternate dimensions and donkeys (the donkeys are important - I think).
The first card introduces us to our leads, who plan on trekking into the desert to film a music video - this is alluded to, but never outright explained, and thank God for the blurb on the back of the box this film came in. Each lead possesses a skill - the camera operator Robbie (Robbie Zagorac), the foley specialist Scott, Robbie's brother (Scott Schamell), the make-up artist Ange (Angela Basolis) and the vocal talent Michelle (Michelle May), whose voice is one of the best parts of this movie. The group seemingly have good chemistry together, the randomness of the humor making them more endearing. Despite this positivity, most of card 1 could potentially be cut, as a lot of it - talking with mom, occasional dancing and generic fashion critiques - are purposeless for the remainder of the 'plot'.
Towards the end of card 1, we are introduced to one of the film's most grating issues - the sporadic nature of its cuts, with transitions that are likely to give viewers whiplash. One second, the characters are at a house, the next they are on a mountain; and this is just one of the many examples. It's almost as though the filmmakers were consistently unsure how to get from Point A to Point B, and used the found-footage nature of the film as a crutch. That's not the worst of it; show something intriguing - then cut; show a strange light - then cut; cut to gratuitous amounts of blood, now cut to total black; rinse and repeat. It is the antithesis of building a coherent narrative, suspense and mystery.
From the second card onwards, our characters are in the desert, where the majority of the 'plot' takes place, and it is towards the end of this card that the film demonstrates great use of shadow, diegetic sound and foreshadowing - our characters uncover a hatchet, and in a horror movie, you just know that tool will be put to good use later. Despite this, the film also introduces another issue - Robbie's bizarre nature. On two separate occasions he witnesses something obscure and chooses not to tell anyone. Is this reasonable behavior?
We then get to the third card, and it is here that The Outwaters goes right off the map. There are some great ideas, accompanied by impressive imagery (example, wormholes), but that in itself is the problem - there are A LOT of ideas here, and not one of them is given the time to be developed into anything cohesive. The film is capable of being disturbing, and perhaps there is one genuine scare, but by the final scene, I was laughing at the insane amount of gore and shaking my head in disbelief - I hardly imagine that was the intended reaction.
There are almost no answers offered to any of the insanity that transpires, and this is not helped by some of the worst shaky cam I have ever seen in my life. The film almost seems deliberate in its attempts to shy away from anything resembling an explanation. I would hardly call this a movie - it is essentially just noise (I needed the subtitles on FYI - that's how bad the background sounds are sometimes), and there were enough flashing lights to give even the most seasoned movie-goer an epileptic fit.
Towards the end, a disembodied voice instructs our lead to 'show them' - what exactly, I cannot imagine anyone can be certain, because the film hardly ever shows us! The Outwaters commits one of the worst sins in filmmaking - it wastes the viewer's time. Maybe I am wrong, and perhaps the goal of this project was to generate discussion between viewer's on what they individually thought they saw. If that's the case, my answer would be 'Huh?' If you are after a found-footage film that genuinely and intelligently builds up suspense, and rewards viewers with an unfolding plot, watch Renny Harlin's Devil's Pass. The Outwaters however, despite its very rare quality, needs not be considered.
Though the film clearly states in its opening that it's ordered 'chronologically', this is false, and is just the start of the film, and its lead, being unreliable narrators. Along with time, other themes include repetition, wombs, mothers, blood (lots of blood), alternate dimensions and donkeys (the donkeys are important - I think).
The first card introduces us to our leads, who plan on trekking into the desert to film a music video - this is alluded to, but never outright explained, and thank God for the blurb on the back of the box this film came in. Each lead possesses a skill - the camera operator Robbie (Robbie Zagorac), the foley specialist Scott, Robbie's brother (Scott Schamell), the make-up artist Ange (Angela Basolis) and the vocal talent Michelle (Michelle May), whose voice is one of the best parts of this movie. The group seemingly have good chemistry together, the randomness of the humor making them more endearing. Despite this positivity, most of card 1 could potentially be cut, as a lot of it - talking with mom, occasional dancing and generic fashion critiques - are purposeless for the remainder of the 'plot'.
Towards the end of card 1, we are introduced to one of the film's most grating issues - the sporadic nature of its cuts, with transitions that are likely to give viewers whiplash. One second, the characters are at a house, the next they are on a mountain; and this is just one of the many examples. It's almost as though the filmmakers were consistently unsure how to get from Point A to Point B, and used the found-footage nature of the film as a crutch. That's not the worst of it; show something intriguing - then cut; show a strange light - then cut; cut to gratuitous amounts of blood, now cut to total black; rinse and repeat. It is the antithesis of building a coherent narrative, suspense and mystery.
From the second card onwards, our characters are in the desert, where the majority of the 'plot' takes place, and it is towards the end of this card that the film demonstrates great use of shadow, diegetic sound and foreshadowing - our characters uncover a hatchet, and in a horror movie, you just know that tool will be put to good use later. Despite this, the film also introduces another issue - Robbie's bizarre nature. On two separate occasions he witnesses something obscure and chooses not to tell anyone. Is this reasonable behavior?
We then get to the third card, and it is here that The Outwaters goes right off the map. There are some great ideas, accompanied by impressive imagery (example, wormholes), but that in itself is the problem - there are A LOT of ideas here, and not one of them is given the time to be developed into anything cohesive. The film is capable of being disturbing, and perhaps there is one genuine scare, but by the final scene, I was laughing at the insane amount of gore and shaking my head in disbelief - I hardly imagine that was the intended reaction.
There are almost no answers offered to any of the insanity that transpires, and this is not helped by some of the worst shaky cam I have ever seen in my life. The film almost seems deliberate in its attempts to shy away from anything resembling an explanation. I would hardly call this a movie - it is essentially just noise (I needed the subtitles on FYI - that's how bad the background sounds are sometimes), and there were enough flashing lights to give even the most seasoned movie-goer an epileptic fit.
Towards the end, a disembodied voice instructs our lead to 'show them' - what exactly, I cannot imagine anyone can be certain, because the film hardly ever shows us! The Outwaters commits one of the worst sins in filmmaking - it wastes the viewer's time. Maybe I am wrong, and perhaps the goal of this project was to generate discussion between viewer's on what they individually thought they saw. If that's the case, my answer would be 'Huh?' If you are after a found-footage film that genuinely and intelligently builds up suspense, and rewards viewers with an unfolding plot, watch Renny Harlin's Devil's Pass. The Outwaters however, despite its very rare quality, needs not be considered.