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A leg up from the start, 8mm film not only plays well with the time of occurrence but adds an extra spike of atmosphere to the found footage shenanigans. Filmmakers, take note. Altair and Manuel are happily married new dog owners with an active social and sex life. Everything seems hunky dory in their new pastoral home as Manuel captures the good times on trusty Super 8. Attitudes change when school teacher Altair grows distant soon after her birthday. This wouldn’t be all that concerning on its own because it happens to everyone, what’s concerning is her new fascination with using black-painted bricks to build a doorway in the couple’s bedroom and basement following intense dreams and hearing voices. Even more concerning is her claims that it’s a sure-fire way of communicating with God, at least that’s what the angels have told her. Grainy news footage opens things up and there’s talk of screams, explosions and four missing people. A journalist tries to get a word from a psychoanalyst hurriedly leaving the home with a box full of super 8 film and the camera that shot it all. The doctor rudely brushes him off and an interview with a farmhand paints a picture of a nice young couple who seemed to be frightened of something. Welp, no question that bad things are coming to everyone. Picnics, puppies, birthday celebrations and bedroom role play paints a healthy picture of two likable young people in love but erratic behavior and odd events has the unease expertly seeping in and dragging things to the inevitable awfulness. Manuel gets his friend involved to help investigate and Altair’s sister and her childhood doctor (the man we saw leaving with the footage in the opening) also eventually get dragged in as the girl acts stranger and stranger. A haunting? A demonic possession? Or something, somehow worse? I won’t tell ya but I will say it’s nice to use the word diabolical and actually mean it. Sinister soundscapes keep the viewer on edge before the more nefarious scares hit and it’s the kind of gradual terror I can really get behind. Even more unsettling is how quickly everything just slips out of control. It’s not often I can overlook some nagging questions whilst sitting through a shaky-cam nightmare but I was so immersed in this one I never once asked “why are they still filming?” or “why did they add music?” and that’s the hallmark of some quality nightmare fuel.
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