Documentarian Rochelle Dupont is working through her five part series of films on independent productions. Her subject this time is Chase Bradner, a young filmmaker in the process of making his first full length narrative. A found footage Bigfoot film called The Patterson Project. After shooting some commercials for a local businessman (hell yes, it’s Dean Cameron), Larry believes in Chase’s talent and helps bankroll his first film. The small group of dreamers are endearing as things kinda go to hell in a completely realistic fashion. Chase’s girlfriend and assistant director Natalie has her anxieties but believes in her boyfriend and his best buddy and associate producer Mitchell has placed an almost filmmaking messiah label on the man he works with (he also has feelings for Natalie and they may be reciprocated). The comedy is built around the frustrations and insanity plaguing the independent production and it rings true so it works every damn time. The Alan Rickman bit that runs throughout the film is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. They finally head out to a patch of wilderness and in the locked basement of the cabin (a family timeshare Natalie regretfully offered up) they will be staying at, they come across a strange space set up for some kind of ritual. That will be important for later. The DIY scrappiness endears everyone and it’s easy to root for this ragtag group even though you know the inevitability of what’s in their future. The spookiness slowly presents itself and this cabin is royally fucked. When the other timeshare owners show up, their terror at the disturbance of the cellar is concerning and their willingness to let them keep filming as long as they don’t involve the police even more so. The woman leaves a creepy book about demons with the team and we get our first idea of the awfulness about to rain down on everyone. Genuinely hilarious the whole way through but able to skid into its horror inspirations without any awkwardness, this is one found footage flick well worth your time.
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