When it released in theaters and on Screambox in 2023, the most impressive thing about The Outwaters was that the film was written, directed, produced, and edited by one individual, Robbie Banfitch, who also stars in the film. However, what’s most impressive now as the film approaches its second anniversary is how well The Outwaters holds up as the most visceral found-footage film, with the narrative, sound design, and cinematography combining to plunge the audience into a realm of confusion that matches what its characters are going through. The Outwaters uses an unorthodox approach to storytelling and delivers a devastating payoff that results in the loss of the entire cast of characters, with a body count comparable to previous entries in the found-footage genre, such as The Blair Witch Project.
The Outwaters follows four friends — Robbie (Banfitch), Angela (Angela Basolis), Michelle (Michelle May), and Scott (Scott Schamell) — who venture into the Mojave Desert to shoot a music video for Michelle’s up-and-coming music career. Their trip starts off normal but soon becomes complete chaos, as the group stumbles into a disruption in space-time and encounters unnatural horrors lurking in the vast emptiness of the desert. As reality warps and time bends repetitively, the foursome are subjected to increasingly nightmarish events, including watching their own deaths play out on repeat.
‘The Outwaters’ Confronts Its Audience
The Outwaters demonstrates the disorienting potential of found-footage to its full potential by utilizing fragmented visuals via pieced-together memory-card footage and a climax that takes place almost entirely at night, often with only a flashlight providing glimpses of disturbing images. The sound design is just as unrelenting, as the film’s soundscape offers ear-piercing shrieks, distant rumblings, distorted echoes, and unnatural noises that do the majority of the work in terms of both setting the atmosphere for the film and ensuring its audience feels suffocated by the expanse of the Mojave and the cosmos.
In terms of its narrative, The Outwaters doesn’t build toward the torment its core cast of four will face throughout its runtime in traditional storytelling style. Instead, the film collapses in on itself and plunges into a chaotic reality where space and time seem to be coming apart Donnie Darko-style. And, just as the Mojave Desert appears to be calm as the characters begin their journey there, the story does require some patience from the audience before the film reaches where chaos is fully unleashed. But, once it gets there, The Outwaters feels inescapable. This unique approach to progressing the narrative works in the film’s favor, as it immerses its audience in the madness. Trying to follow the timelines and each subsequent shift in the universe demands one’s full attention, and trying to decipher exactly what is actually happening in the film only draws you further into the story.
.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=422&h=268&dpr=2)
Robbie Banfitch’s Cosmic Nightmare in the Desert
Once The Outwaters truly takes off — and its characters are forced to endure becoming untethered from time and space — what audiences see is a non-linear sequence of events where the characters exist between dimensions. The result is the continual interruption of the process of death, as the audience witnesses Robbie, Angela, Scott, and Michelle stuck in a loop and seemingly never-ending torment. In a way, whatever tear in space the four have stumbled upon becomes their personal hell, with their own deaths constantly interrupted and repeated to them. It’s not enough for the group to have to face terrifying, shrieking worm-like creatures in the desert or to watch the sky open up — the characters have to be active participants in their own horrors. As the characters watch their own deaths occur and experience them on repeat, it becomes clear that one of their own, driven mad by past and future experiences, is likely the cause of the group’s suffering.
The conclusion to The Outwaters isn’t really as finite as it seems, as there are still many lingering questions by the time credits roll: What is causing this disturbance in space-time? What is the unknowable force that is consuming reality? And, finally, are the characters still trapped in a loop, with the story carrying on past what the audience is able to see? The only certainty is that there is no sense of relief when The Outwaters reaches its ending — only confusion and lingering distress.
The Outwaters has largely flown under the radar since its release, but those who have seen it can attest to the unsettling, immersive experience it offers. Its atmospheric trip through the cosmos goes against traditional storytelling techniques to create one of the most raw and intense movie-watching experiences the found-footage genre can offer. Because, ultimately, it’s not a movie you watch — it’s a movie you endure.
Source link
