A young couple and their pre-teen son take a little camping trip with some friends in the gorgeous wilds of Vancouver. They decide to extend their pleasant trip after their friends leave and do a little exploring in a remote patch of forest called Stickman’s Hollow. The area is supposed to be home to amazing views and fishing but you just have to make your way down a creepy trail to get to the spot. This is the footage that was discovered from their fateful hike into an isolated area with a pretty sinister vibe. The camera is a gift to the young boy from his aunt, so it makes sense why the little dude is excited to record everything. A standard opening hits the tropes (a local acting suspicious when the Hollow is mentioned, family hijinks, recorded mundanity, ill omens) you would expect and the trailhead is marked by a statue of a man made of sticks (I probably didn’t need to say that) and some Blair Witch tree art (also probably didn’t need to mention that). Instead of peeling out after immediately seeing that admittedly horrific greeting to spooky wilderness, the family hikes on. So far, so found footage. Luckily, even if the performances may falter in some aspects, there’s still a solid chemistry between the family and the breathtaking location is very easy on the eyes. So, the early going setup isn’t an uphill battle and as mundane as it is with sinister bits creeping in, it has to be this dry to allow for the impact of when the wheels come off and the film takes some unexpected detours. Saying much more would spoil everything and this is one bad boy I definitely recommend going in as blind as possible. Impressive sound design, a solid utilization of its setting, an intriguing unraveling of its plot and a true aura of eeriness add a level of spookiness it’s hard to find in this subgenre that seems to usually go out of its way to disappoint me.
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