Prowling (2023) (UK)

⭐️⭐️

Footage of a 2001 production diary made by two film school students is discovered in the cellar of an abandoned farm house. Looks like their low budget flick never got made and the footage is going to be the key factor in uncovering what happened to the young men. Yes. It’s found footage time and much like a recovering addict with no fucking impulse control, I keep coming on back for more no matter how many times I wake up disheveled and drooling on the couch saying “Never again!”. Liam and Daryl are our hopeful filmmakers and we open with them location scouting and being kicked off of private property. They remove themselves with little fight which is refreshing. On they wander through some pleasant countryside, chatting like youthful dopes do. They shoot more scenes and it’s all as awkward as it should be, god bless em, they’re trying. Apparently they have a contact to get them access to a solid location in rural nowhere… perfect for their movie. It’s also perfect for something dangerous to stalk them. Suitably cold and secluded, the location goes a long way to adding some atmosphere to the horrific situation the two find themselves in. Stupidly following a stranger into the middle of nowhere is questionable and they finally realize this when they come across a spot in the woods covered in different missing persons fliers. Their guide seems cold to it but the aspiring filmmakers get freaked the fuck out. Little late there, buddies. They follow the man a little deeper into the dark but finally decide to break away from him when they come across a severed foot and their guide bites into it. Now, in pitch black with no familiarly for their surroundings, they realize they’re in trouble but they have no idea of the depth of trouble they have walked willingly into. Found footage werewolf films don’t come along often and I respect that the creators went down a path way more difficult to present than an unseen witch or empty building full of specters. So I’m a fan of the idea of a shaky-cam nightmare with a lycanthrope twist and this may have even worked as a solid short. Unfortunately, we got a lot of rambling in the hands of folks who don’t yet have the experience to make time spent with them all that interesting. We do get a brief look at the werewolf and I’m fine with it for the budget but it’s a whole bunch of stalling when it could have just been setup and payoff.