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| The Outwaters. Photo Courtesy of Cinedigm |
Writer and director Robbie Banfitch has said with The Outwaters, "... if I’ve done my job well, it should raise hairs and evoke chills, even from die-hard horror fans. I aimed for a naturalistic, slow-burn experience that will take its audience to a place they've never been, and then beyond. I aimed for something lovely, dark and deep."
People go out to the desert for a myriad of reasons. To find themselves, to lose themselves, to connect, to disconnect. The four friends in The Outwaters are going out to create a music video for Michelle (Michelle August) as a way of helping elevate her music and connect with her mom who has passed away. The video will be shot by Robbie (Robbie Banfitch) who is accompanied by his brother Scott (Scott Schamell) also joining them is Angela (Angela Basolis). These four actors have pulled off something that can be difficult to do in the genre world of micro budget filmmaking. Creating a group of characters that an audience can enjoy spending time with. They are excited to head out on an adventure into the Mojave Desert. As Angela - who has never been out to the desert - remarks, "The desert seems beautiful and magical"
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| Michelle May in The Outwaters. Photo Courtesy of Cinedigm |
Along with the excitement there is a sense of loss. Michelle has lost her mother and it is remarked a couple of times how much she looks like her mom. Michelle's music is rooted in her mom singing to her. The Zagorac brothers have lost their father. Robbie gifts Scott a backpack, a journal for Scott's short stories as well as their dad's bandana.
There are also vibrations are all around. Literally. An Earthquake rattles the apartment the friends are hanging out in as they prepare to head to the Mojave Desert. Several aftershocks rattle the place and the nerves. Innocuous events take on ominous qualities. Someone blows out a birthday cake laden with candles. The candles flicker and get extinguished. Little red embers remain. The embers resemble little red eyes. The red lights are swallowed up by the dark. A chandelier is filmed as a hand moves the dangling crystal accents. The light catches them and flickers in dazzling and hypnotic ways. Once out into the desert there are loud, inexplicable sounds. The vibe moves from fun, easy-going to strange and weird to....
Cinema for me is largely an emotional endeavor. However a film elicits it's intended response doesn't matter as long as it gets there. Comedy is of course is looking for laughs; a romantic film looks for the wonder and magic of meeting someone and perhaps the sadness of losing that someone. Filmmakers crafting a horror film are trying to make one uneasy and uncomfortable, make the viewer squirm in their seat, make the hairs standup on your arm. Perhaps cup their hand over their eyes and look at the film through the slight spaces one opens between your fingers. Make one audible exclaim, "what the fuck?!?!?!?!" and just down right scream. The Outwaters achieved it's goals. The hairs were standing up on my arms, as I cupped a hand over my eyes and screamed, "what the fuck!?!?!?!?!" I have watched some of the most hardcore, transgressive, dangerous cinema ever crafted. Kudos to the entire team of The Outwaters for setting out to make a scary movie and achieving their goal.
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| Michelle May in The Outwaters. Photo Courtesy of Cinedigm |
The Outwaters is a found footage film and one is either going to be on board with that or not. The impetus of the characters making the trek to the desert for a music video eliminates the shaky cam often found in this genre. Having Robbie looking for cool shots lends itself to a wonderful visual flair. There is a great shot of Michelle's sunglasses reflecting the sky. "Your eyes are the sky" The structure of the film is ingenious. The footage is on three memory cards that is now evidence of the Mojave Police. If you are going to take away or severely limit one of your audiences components to engage with your movie, in the case of The Outwaters, visually, with the use of a flashlight as the only way to see what is happening at night or complete darkness as the visual, then the other cinematic tools better be amped up. Indeed they are, the sound design of the film is incredible. I shall mention the entire credited team here. Robbie Banfitch, sound design. Monkeyland Audio, Trip Brock, Itai Levy and additional sound effects by Matt Shivers (an apt last name), Melody Elwell Romancito and Pete Barry. As in any micro-budget, independent film many hats have to be worn by a few amount of people. Robbie Banfitch also handles the special effects. This is no easy feat. Creating effects that are believable and effective is a difficult task. He pulls of the effects with great affect. Another great aspect of crafting a found footage film is really leaning into it and breaking the forth wall. As much as we the audiences are recoiling in terror we are drawn into what is happening in front of us because the characters are making eye contact with us. They are crying out for help. We, the audience sit in the dark unable to aid those in distress, creating another layer of fear and anguish upon the audience.
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| Robbie Banfitch in The Outwaters. Photo Courtesy of Cinedigm. |
It is a privilege to be able to see a film prior to it being completely unleashed to the world and write about is trying to thread a needle. You are writing about a film in sweeping, vague notions, trying to convey your experience without giving away too much, if anything away. I'll say this, my experience watching The Outwaters was a hypnotic, hallucinatory, disorienting, blood soaked, terrifying, mesmerizing, chilling and shocking.
The Outwaters is a truly a triumph of micro-budget cinematic storytelling. A film like this is truly willed into existence. The desert is indeed lovely, dark and deep.
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