No mires en la oscuridad

Festival note by Alejandro Yamgotchian

A sensory surprise, not only for horror lovers but also for fans of found footage. Starting from something that may recall some of the paralyzing scenes from The Blair Witch Project — for a few seconds, a supposedly lost child is seen — director Samuel Freeman, an experienced producer making his feature debut, chooses to tell the story almost entirely through what is heard: dialogue, noises, screams, the wind, with a black screen for much of the film and only fleeting vertical images through which we can interpret, in our own way, what the main couple may be experiencing as they prepare to start a family and end up lost in the woods. The challenge of this redefinition of the found-footage subgenre lies in seeing and deciphering within what gradually becomes an increasingly intense experience. “Darkness is not just filler; it is the canvas,” Freeman commented. “Every viewer sees something different. Every theater reveals something new. No two screenings are alike. It is designed to unsettle you, confuse you, trap you and leave you wondering if you missed something — because maybe you did.”