The death of Dorothy Bell has left a fair share of trauma in its wake. Especially when it comes to her granddaughter and a general lack of answers. Not so much into the “how” but into the why things went down the way they did. Further intrigue comes from the whole urban legend that gestated around the woman’s passing in the local library where she worked. Years have passed and the claims of the dead woman haunting the building where she came to an end brings Ozzie there to see if she can contact the departed and figure out what the hell happened. But, as we all know, when you tinker around behind the veil, things take notice. Now, Ozzie may have garnered the attention of whatever malicious force claimed the life of her grandma. Luckily for us, it’s all caught on camera. An opening stretch of tension is built around analog footage shot by a very young Ozzie concerning a very horrific incident and is one hell of an introduction to the film proper. We learn through Ozzie’s video journals that Dorothy seemingly lost her mind over night, suddenly hearing voices and acting dangerously erratic. Following the advice of these voices, grandma began to do some bad things. After coming across a paranormal blog claiming Dorothy is still wandering and whispering back to anyone brave enough to call her name, our protagonist feels this is a way to connect with her past and figure out what memories are factual or defenses thrown up by her brain. The library staff is elusive with any info but a maintenance man who knew her mother lets her sneak in after close to record around the lovely building. Reviewing the footage of her first night there, she manages to see some interesting crap… enough interesting crap to guarantee she’ll be making more visits after hours and bringing along a Ouija board. A cursed book comes into play, lives are put at risk and the answers Ozzie seeks may cost a lot more than anyone should be willing to pay. Asya Meadows is excellent in the lead as a convincingly damaged woman looking for answers and falling down a rabbit hole of the unthinkable. The film loses itself when it stops playing coy with its scares but it’s easy to forgive on that front because it really is offering alot more than one usually finds in found footage relegated to the Tubi library. Solidly paced and intriguingly stitched together, it also does the unexpected by managing to get under the skin and supplying some solid heebie jeebies… a claim I don’t throw around all willy-nilly.
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