Final Rating: 2.5/5
Hunting Matthew Nichols (2024) is a mockumentary turned found footage horror film directed by Markian Tarasiuk, written by Tarasiuk and Sean Harris Oliver. The film follows Tara Nichols, played by Miranda MacDougall, who is producing a documentary about the disappearance of her brother, Matthew Nichols, and his best friend, Jordan Reimer, 20 years ago in the Canadian wilderness. What starts as a pseudo-satire of Netflix style true crime documentaries eventually abandons its unique premise for more well-trodden ground.
The boys were amateur filmmakers, and trekked into the forest with their camera to look for local cannibal legend, Roy Mackenzie, and never came back. Tara, searching for her brother and convinced that there may be more to the story than police are letting on, eventually decides to go into the woods herself to reenact their last acts hoping to find at least a trace of him.
The film is light on scares, but for the first hour or so, it isn’t wanting for them. The true crime stylistic flourishes are the most interesting part of the film. The editing, title cards, and reenactments are spot-on parodies of modern true crime docs. Eventually, however, it becomes clear the first half of the movie is missing something.
The film takes its time setting things up, luxuriating in exposition without taking advantage of the opportunity to flesh anything out beyond basic plot synopsis. There is no extra emotional weight added by the interview with Matthew Nichols’ mother, played by Susinn McFarlen. Instead, she does some of the scene setting, giving information on the town and chronology without seeming particularly distressed by dredging up old, painful memories. It feels like at any moment the film might surprise you with a joke, but they never really do. It is hard to frame as a true satire or parody, when there is very little criticism of the genre actually present in the film.
Eventually, the film turns from the victims to the filmmakers themselves. Like any other found footage horror film about disappearing in the woods, it owes much to The Blair Witch Project, which is featured in the film itself as inspiration for the boys before they disappeared. In the present, Tara alongside Markian and Ryan McDonald, both playing dramatized versions of themselves as director and camera operator, start to investigate the case further, suspecting a coverup by local police, eventually trekking into the woods with handheld cameras and a plan to camp overnight.
In the grand tradition of all Blair Witch-derived found footage films, they are a very annoying trio. Tara’s character never evokes the requisite sympathy needed to pull this kind of thing off. The audience is not as intrigued by the story as the filmmakers seem to think, and scenes following their investigation feel a lot more like a standard horror movie than a documentary. It is hard to feel invested in either the mockumentary style or the main story, so it becomes a waiting game. When will it actually get scary? Will all this slow burn pay off?
While the runtime is only 89 minutes, it feels rather long, and though the eventual payoff is enjoyable, it won’t be enough to satisfy seasoned horror fans who remember Lake Mungo or The Ritual. The premise of the film is outright discarded by the last segment, the only part of the film with any horror to speak of, and that oversight doesn’t go unnoticed. The Blair Witch Project was supposedly literal “found” footage, but Hunting Matthew Nichols, is edited, polished like any finished Netflix or HBO true crime doc would be, until it slips into the Blair Witch style.
Lake Mungo is wholly in the style of a made for tv true crime special, and never abandons its premise. Sticking the landing is crucial; it takes the audience out of it, and gives the sense that the idea itself was half-baked. Obviously, everyone knows it’s just a movie, but it doesn’t feel complete when it cuts directly from handheld to the credits.
Was this footage found? Tara Nichols is listed as a producer in the opening credits, but as the closing credits scroll, there is nothing of that shell left. Very little of it stays with the viewer once it ends, just another passable horror movie. There is potential in the idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
Thank you to Pender PR for the screener.
