The found footage subgenre has both its defenders and its detractors, and at this point, you probably know which side of the aisle you fall on. Your opinion of that genre will dictate your enjoyment of Hunting Matthew Nichols, a solidly crafted, if not particularly exciting picture that will entertain diehards but not win any new converts.
What is Hunting Matthew Nichols about?
Hunting Matthew Nichols follows a woman who sets out to find the truth behind her brother’s disappearance two decades before. When a new piece of evidence is discovered, she begins to believe that he might still be alive. But of course, given that this is a found footage horror film, you know that something sinister is afoot.
Hunting Matthew Nichols Review
An interesting trend in the found footage subgenre of horror is that we are largely moving away from the “rugged” or DIY quality that birthed the medium with movies like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. Instead, the approach in films like Shelby Oaks, Strange Harvest, the Hell House franchise, and now Hunting Matthew Nichols is one that’s a bit more polished — as if it were a horror mockumentary designed to mimic the tropes of streaming true crime slop. And director Markian Tarasiuk does a great job of replicating those elements in a way that makes Hunting Matthew Nichols feel immersive and grounded.
However, speaking of Blair Witch, Hunting Matthew Nichols undermines itself with one fatal flaw that is an ambitious swing that simply doesn’t pay off. The movie incorporates some meta elements about the found footage genre by frequently referencing how big of a fan the eponymous missing person was of Blair Witch, to the extent that it even becomes a plot point. But this also reminds the audience of the fact that we are, indeed, watching a movie, thwarting that feeling of immersion.
There is also the fact that the film isn’t all that scary. The movie goes all-in on the mystery element and keeping the audience so in the dark on what might be happening until the very end that it really doesn’t give us an entity to be afraid of. Even in something like The Blair Witch Project, where you never see the eponymous character, the malevolent presence haunts the entire film because of a well-fleshed-out mythology. That aspect is what is missing in Hunting Matthew Nichols.
As a result, audiences can be forgiven for thinking that Hunting Matthew Nichols is on the boring side. Even with a brief runtime of under an hour and a half, the movie starts to wear out its welcome a bit as you begin to wonder exactly where it is heading. The finale, thankfully, delivers on the high intensity that the rest of the film has been building towards, but that, too, is somewhat predictable.
That being said, Hunting Matthew Nichols still works, and that’s because of how easy it is to get invested in the characters. And frankly, this probably shouldn’t be the case. A protagonist trying to find their lost sibling is not a new character arc to the found footage genre — just look at the 2016 reboot of Blair Witch, which had a very similar storyline.
However, a big part of the success here is lead actress Miranda MacDougall, who’s shockingly great here. The difference is that a lot of found footage movies tend to use non-actors, and while MacDougall didn’t have a ton of experience prior to her role in Hunting Matthew Nichols, she had a few roles under her belt, and in the time since, she’s gotten a regular role on a Hallmark soap. In other words, she is an actual actress, and that lends the performance and film a level of quality unusual for the genre.
Is Hunting Matthew Nichols worth watching?
Apart from that, Hunting Matthew Nichols is not exactly special as far as found footage horror goes, and it is unlikely to excite mainstream audiences who are looking for something a bit more eventful and scary. Still, it’s competent and well-made, which is a lot more than can be said about a lot of modern horror pictures, and thus, this will be satisfying to the genre’s biggest devotees.
Hunting Matthew Nichols opens in theaters on April 10.
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