Hellbender (2022)
Homemade horror done right.
Presentation:
This is an ugly looking film. Or is it? Contrast is overly strong, the color grade is wack and inconsistent, long lenses, chromatic aberrations, blown out highlights, crushed blacks, special effects are goofy, practical effects are overdone, this screams homemade production because it is...and yet...40 minutes in you keep watching, because and at some point you kinda like it. It's hard to say if these visuals are bad by design but it somehow works. The saving grace is the camera work and slow zooms are quite nice for his offbeat horror.
Conclusion:
This was extremely surprising. I’d normally stop watching mid movie but i kept waiting for something to happen. And it does, about half way through the movie everything becomes clear and is actually really rewarding and builds a lot of lore and world building. It's actually a very interesting premise, and the unprofessional acting adds to the purity of the piece. It just works as in unapologetically screams indie production. If production was any better quality, I oddly don't think the movie would would hold up to scrutiny. It's incredible what a family of 3 can accomplish with just ideas and a story. You don't need fancy visuals, just the will to create a movie. The movie is unapologetically low quality which breaks of limits of what we should expect. An impressive head-scratcher.
Recommendations
The most adorable homemade horror ever.