Horror in the High Desert

I recently came across Horror in the High Desert and with the over influx of found-footage films, I admittedly didn’t have high expectations for it. I didn’t know what to think outside of hoping to extract some entertainment value from the cinematic version of a deep-cut on Amazon Prime. You can imagine my surprise when I found that this is a very good, borderline great film. Horror in the High Desert is more found-footage adjacent rather than a straight-up conventional found-footage film. This film has elements of found-footage but it largely deviates from the standard found-footage formula that we have been accustomed to seeing.

Horror in the High Desert is a pseudo-documentary reminiscent of First 48 that takes inspiration from the real life disappearance of Kenny Veach. The film follows vlogger and avid extreme hiker and survivalist, Gary Hinge. Gary hikes to a remote and unspecified area in the Great Basin Desert in Nevada where he has a bizarre experience after finding a mysterious cabin literally in the middle of nowhere. Gary becomes unsettled by a strange phenomenon emanating from the cabin that deeply disturbs him. The experience leads him to flee from the cabin, but after receiving criticism online over the veracity of the experience, Gary decides to go back. This proves to be a fatal decision as he later disappears. Gary vlogs the experience right up until his last moments.

The film takes itself seriously in the best way possible. It really plays up on the documentary aspect. The film is very well acted, with each character treating the story as a real life experience. You could be mistaken to believe that this is an actual documentary and not a horror film if you walked in on it and didn’t realize what you were watching. I’m a huge horror fan but not much really scares me. Real life crime and disappearances are far scarier to me than demonic possession or a creature feature. The film doesn’t approach this as a horror film but instead it treats it as an actual missing person’s case. This hits harder and everyone involved truly nails it. This to me made for a truly chilling experience.

The film isn’t straight-up found-footage because the footage is played within the film as it progresses. It’s not a thing to where it’s found after the carnage has occurred. I liked this because even though I enjoy found-footage films, they can definitely become trite if the writers don’t take care to make the film distinctive from its predecessors. This isn’t the case here. The film is very similar to Atlanta season 4 episode, The Goof Who Sat By the Door and most recently in episode 6 of Swarm, both brain children of Donald Glover. This film actually came out in 2021, prior to both, so it is possible that Glover was influenced by this film. I saw each episode prior to this film and I thought that each was one of the strongest of its respective series and that same brilliance flows in the film version.

Some people may have given up on the found-footage genre; others may have never gotten on the bandwagon. Whichever side you’re on, I believe that this is a stellar found-footage-esque film. Again, it’s not straight up found-footage but there are enough elements to classify it as such. The mockumentary is brilliant and I’m not sure it could have been improved upon, unless I really started to pettily nitpick. The film is legitimately disturbing and unsettling. This is the horror film for you if you believe that real life is scarier than monsters.

----8.9/10