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‘Horror in the High Desert’ Delivers Exactly That in Faux Doc Style

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Horror in the High Desert

Horror in the High Desert recently made its debut on Tubi after a short festival run. It’s a film that fans of found footage and faux doc style horror films will not want to miss.

The film’s official synopsis reads:

In July 2017, an experienced outdoor enthusiast vanished in Northern Nevada while on an outdoor excursion. After an extensive search, he was never located. On the three-year anniversary of his disappearance, friends and loved ones recall the events leading up to his vanishing, and for the first time, speak about the horrifying conclusion of his fate.

Writer/director Dutch Marich was featured in our Horror Pride series last year during the month of June. The series honors the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community to the horror genre. In that interview, he had this to say:

“There’s two things that I love in horror. One is the fear of the unknown which to me is just the best. It’s hard to top that sort of unsolved mysteries thing. I love the things that push your brain to work.  The second would have to be a straight up, visceral human monster, slasher, or serial killer.”

Horror in the High Desert blends these two things together beautifully. In fact, I would say the film is the promise Marich made to his viewers when he first began making films fulfilled.

In order for a faux documentary to really work, you have to be able to believe the people on screen are not actors at all. You have to lose yourself in the illusion that they are reporters, concerned siblings, police officers, etc. It’s the tripping point for most who attempt the style. Someone’s performance is almost always too much of a performance to sell the film’s reality.

Fortunately for us, Marich excels at this, and though I cannot be entirely sure, I think its largely down to his not hiring “actors” for his films. They are, almost always, a family affair. I can hear some of you groaning when I say this, but what I have to add is that Marich seems to have a particularly talented family who is natural on camera.

Take, for instance, Tonya Williams Ogden. In the film she plays Beverly Hinge, sister to the film’s missing protagonist who we only see in recovered footage. In real life, she’s Marich’s cousin. Now, I’ve seen a lot of low-budget films where the filmmaker employs their family to fill out the cast and it…doesn’t work out so well. The exact opposite happens here.

I don’t remember the last time I saw someone look this natural on camera or who, so adeptly, became the heart of a film. There wasn’t a hint of acting to what she was doing. She was simply a sister who desperately wanted to know what happened to her brother, and she breaks the viewer’s heart more than once during the film.

Likewise, Marich’s husband, David Morales, rises to the occasion as private investigator William “Bill” Salerno, again, giving an understated performance that underlines the “reality” of the film.

There is a moment in every found footage film where reality takes a turn to the terrifying. That moment exists in Horror in the High Desert, but it doesn’t come with a big punch the way it often does in similar films. Instead, Marich carefully crafts a story that becomes more unsettling by the moment. He chooses dread over jump scares and character over inflated plot.

Does this make certain sections of the film seem longer than they actually are? Yes, and the pacing of the film is the only real issue I have. There are times where the stories and anecdotes are perhaps a minute or two longer than they necessarily need to be, but the film never grinds to a complete halt.

What’s more when Gary’s final video from his adventures in the desert is revealed, the terror is all the more palpable because the director took the time to really flesh out the character so that we feel like we know him. Viewers feel for this young man who was cyberbullied into returning to a location that he did not want to see again, and what follows is all the more effective because of it.

Further, Marich answers just enough questions to feel satisfying while leaving a few more open for a sequel, which, has already been promised.

You can see Horror in the High Desert for free on Tubi. Check out the film’s trailer below!

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‘Immaculate’ Stars Reveal Which Horror Villains They Would “F, Marry, Kill”

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Sydney Sweeney is just coming off the success of her rom-com Anyone But You, but she’s ditching the love story for a horror story in her latest film Immaculate.

Sweeney is taking Hollywood by storm, portraying everything from a love-lusting teenager in Euphoria to an accidental superhero in Madame Web. Although the latter got a lot of hate among theater-goers, Immaculate is getting the polar opposite.

The film was screened at SXSW this past week and was well-received. It also gained a reputation for being extremely gory. Derek Smith of Slant says the, “final act contains some of the most twisted, gory violence this particular subgenre of horror has seen in years…”

Thankfully curious horror movie fans won’t have to wait long to see for themselves what Smith is talking about as Immaculate will hit theaters across the United States on March, 22.

Bloody Disgusting says that the movie’s distributor NEON, in a bit of marketing smarts, had stars Sydney Sweeney and Simona Tabasco play a game of “F, Marry, Kill” in which all their choices had to be horror movie villains.

It’s an interesting question, and you might be surprised at their answers. So colorful are their responses that YouTube slapped an age-restricted rating on the video.

Immaculate is a religious horror movie that NEON says stars Sweeney, “as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”

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Michael Keaton Raves About “Beetlejuice” Sequel: A Beautiful and Emotional Return to the Netherworld

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After more than three decades since the original “Beetlejuice” film took audiences by storm with its unique blend of comedy, horror, and whimsy, Michael Keaton has given fans a reason to eagerly anticipate the sequel. In a recent interview, Keaton shared his thoughts on an early cut of the upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel, and his words have only added to the growing excitement surrounding the film’s release.

Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice

Keaton, reprising his iconic role as the mischievous and eccentric ghost, Beetlejuice, described the sequel as “beautiful”, a term that encapsulates not only the visual aspects of the film but its emotional depth as well. “It is really good. And beautiful. Beautiful, you know, physically. You know what I mean? The other one was so fun and exciting visually. It’s all that, but really kind of beautiful and interestingly emotional here and there. I wasn’t ready for that, you know. Yeah, it’s great,” Keaton remarked during his appearance on The Jess Cagle Show.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Keaton’s praise did not stop at the film’s visual and emotional appeal. He also lauded the performances of both returning and new cast members, signaling a dynamic ensemble that is sure to please fans. “It’s great and the cast, I mean, Catherine [O’Hara], if you thought she was funny last time, double it. She’s so funny and Justin Theroux is like, I mean, come on,” Keaton enthused. O’Hara returns as Delia Deetz, while Theroux joins the cast in a yet-to-be-disclosed role. The sequel also introduces Jenna Ortega as Lydia’s daughter, Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s wife, and Willem Dafoe as a dead B movie actor, adding new layers to the beloved universe.

“It’s just so fun and I’ve seen it now, I’m gonna see it again after a couple little tweaks in the editing room and I confidently say this thing is great,” Keaton shared. The journey from the original “Beetlejuice” to its sequel has been a long one, but if Keaton’s early rave is anything to go by, it will have been worth the wait. Showtime for the sequel is set for September 6th.

Beetlejuice

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‘The Unknown’ From Willy Wonka Event is Getting a Horror Movie

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Not since the Fyre Festival has an event been so lambasted online as Glasgow, Scotland’s Willy Wonka Experience. In case you haven’t heard about it, it was a children’s spectacular that celebrated Roald Dahl’s offbeat chocolatier by taking families through a themed space that felt like his magical factory. Only, thanks to cellphone cameras and social testimony, it was actually a sparsely decorated warehouse filled with flimsy set designs that looked like they were bought on Temu.

The famous disgruntled Oompa Loompa is now a meme and several hired actors have spoken out about the inelegant party. But one character seems to have come out on top, The Unknown, the mirror-masked emotionless villain who appears from behind a mirror, terrifying younger attendees. The actor who played Wonka, at the event, Paul Conell, recites his script and gives some backstory to this frightening entity.

“The bit that got me was where I had to say, ‘There is a man we don’t know his name. We know him as the Unknown. This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls,'” Conell told Business Insider. “It was terrifying for the kids. Is he an evil man who makes chocolate or is the chocolate itself evil?”

Despite the sour affair, something sweet may come out of it. Bloody Disgusting has reported that a horror movie is being made based on The Unknown and may get a release as early as this year.

The horror publication quotes Kaledonia Pictures: “The film, gearing up for production and a late 2024 release, follows a renowned illustrator and his wife who are haunted by the tragic death of their son, Charlie. Desperate to escape their grief, the couple leave the world behind for the remote Scottish Highlands – where an unknowable evil awaits them.”

@katsukiluvrr evil chicolate maker who lives in the walls from willies chocolate experience in glasgow x #glasgow #willywonka #wonkaglasgow #scottish #wonka #theunknown #fyp #trending #foryou ♬ its the unknown – mol💌

They add, “We are excited to begin production and look forward to sharing more with you as soon as possible. We are actually only a few miles from the event, so it is quite surreal to see Glasgow all over social media, worldwide.”

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