Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films,
2017
Images from the Internet
The Faith Community
Directed by Faith R. Johnson
Vicious Apple Productions
88
minutes, 2017
While
I’m generally over the whole found
footage genre, every once in a while someone uses it effectively, though
that’s rare and far between. Guess which side of the coin this one turns up on,
thank Jeebus?
Jeffrey Brabant, Janessa Floyd |
On
the car ride over to Camp Nazareth, we meet a trio of college students. The
leader of this particular group is Hannah (Janessa Floyd), who is president of
the school’s Christian club. Although opinionated, rather than making her self-righteously
obnoxious like, say, Tracy Flick in Election
(1999) or obnoxiously overbearing like, well, most of the present US
government, she actually seems like a nice person… But not to the level that I’d
necessarily want to hang out with her, or agree with her much. This alone tells
you that something here is going to be different.
Her
two companions are Andrew (Aidan Hart) and Colin (Jeffrey Brabant). The former
is obviously interested in experimenting with religion, though not as obsessed
as a believer, and the latter seems to be along for the ride; he’s profane and
less Biblically knowledgeable than his companions. These two guys do most of
the filming.
The
point of the road trip is to hook up with a religious community that Hannah
found online for a Bible study weekend retreat, but once they get there, duh, it’s a not exactly what they
expect. The sheer “rustic-ness” (i.e., camping) of the group is only the
beginning.
Jeremy Harris |
The
leader of this smallish and cultish clan is a 30-year-old man (Jeremy Harris)
who calls himself “The Messenger.” As for Harris, despite this being his only
listed IMDB credit, gives a chilling performance with a mix of confidence,
child-like exuberance, devotion, and… seemingly just a touch of madness.
Do I
really need to say that things gets progressively stranger as time goes on, so
I don’t need to say “spoiler alert”? If I’ve ruined anything for you in this
paragraph, you need to see more fictional films about religious cults. Y’knowhadimsayin’?
Even
though this release has some of the things I truly dislike the most about found
footage, including running, pointing at the ground, pointing at the sky, and characters
talking while the camera is pointed elsewhere, all things considered it’s
possibly one of the better ones I’ve seen in a while that I can think of, at
least since The Changing of Ben Moore (2015).
In
fact, much of the film has a kind of fuzzy look that is often washed out in
sunlight, almost like it was filmed through some kind of gauze. This gives it a
kind of VHS feel, though I’m not sure that was intended. The poster of the film
gives some idea of what I’m trying to explain.
Aiden Hart |
There
is nothing supernatural in the film, no great goat-headed demon rising out of
the ground to rip souls and bodies to shreds, but that’s part of what makes the
story so potent and chilling, in that we are dealing with mere humans with
expectations of God and the Devil. What I mean by that is, well, I once saw a
bumper sticker that read, “Oh, Lord, protect me from your believers.” I think
that is a bit too broad and inaccurate. A more suiting message that would be
applicable here (and life) is, “Oh, Lord, protect me from your interpreters.” I only needs to watch
modern televangelists to get what I mean (i.e., “My God can beat up your God,
even if it’s the same God”).
The
screenplay and story by director Faith (yeah, I snorted back a bit of a laugh
at that piece of irony) Johnson and Robert Trezza is pretty interesting, but it
is the acting by the troupe that really brings this to life. I wonder how much
of this is written dialog and what percentage is ad-libbed, because there are
some long stretched of talking very fast. I am assuming a bit of both, but it’s
blended really well. Most off-the-cuff conversations tend to be clumsy, but
here it stays where it should, with the storyline.
Most
found footage is a lot of cockiness followed by the comeuppance of running
around screaming, and while there is a bit of that here, too, the strength of
the cast makes it work rather than be an annoyance. The proof is in the long
shots of conversations or rantings that hit all the marks, and keep the viewer
interested.
I
also liked how there were a few set pieces of Colin and Andrew interviewing
some of the cult members in extended Q&As or monologs that were as spooky as
an action piece, such as with The Messenger, or Michael (Oliver Palmer). But
what I also found impressive is that for most of the cast this is, if not their
first credit, then one of few, including the director.
Nicely
done is that sometimes the camera would be focusing on someone talking as
something is happening in the background, and you’re aware that the person
shooting it is just as aware as you are. It’s like, “Wait, am I seeing that
right?”
Sure,
it’s shot amateurishly (on purpose is my guess) with a single camera and no
musical soundtrack, but for once it’s more honest that way. I still have an
issue with how a camera can keep running for so long without being recharged,
as there is obviously no electricity going on at cultville, but in this rare
case I’m willing to forgive it for the sake of a rare, decent found footager.
First seen this movie on the Tubi app. It's an ok movie I like the jump scares like when Michael & Isabel freak out in front of the camera and when Hanna is transformed into something possesed.
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