BUTTERFLY KISSES

Directed by: Erik Kristopher Myers
Starring: Rachel Armiger, Reed DeLisle, Matt Lake, Seth Adam Kallick

Fiilmmaker Gavin Yorke discovers a box of old video camera tapes in his in-laws' house basement. Upon reviewing them he discovers they contain footage of two film-student's project to investigate the local urban legend of "Peeping Tom"…

 (normally I’d put the trailer here, but it’s sharing availability is limited.

However you can click here to see it)

Found Footage horror movies are the definitive "Marmite" genre, in that people will either love of hate the format. I happen to fall into the former camp, although I acknowledge that there are a lot of pitfalls to the genre which a lot of film-makers fall into. One of the key issues is how are we actually watching the footage? A spin-off of the found footage genre is the faux documentary. Or fake-umentary. Prime examples of this format are Lake Mungo and Atticus Institute, which help frame a fantastical story in a real and relatable context.

Gavin Yorke is a film graduate who makes a living from filming wedding videos. When he discovers the box of videotapes (ominously marked "DO NOT WATCH"), he watches what turns out to be the last recorded tape and realises that he has something people need to see. He hires a documentary team to film his journey of not only producing a film out of the footage but also obtaining authentication of its footage.

The video tapes show two film students, Sophia and Feldman, who are investigating a local urban legend about Peeping Tom. The legend has it that if you stare down a particular railway tunnel for a full hour without blinking, the Spectral figure of Peeping Tom will appear at the far end of the tunnel, and will get ever closer each time you blink. There's some fun footage of street interviews with people who "know someone who knows someone" and also with an author of local folklore who is able to provide some exposition.

 Sophia and Feldman hit on the idea of using the camera as their "unblinking gaze" and sure enough it seems to work - they capture grainy footage of a spectral figure rising up at the other end of the railway tunnel. When Gavin sees that footage he becomes a bit obsessed with getting some form of authentication for it - showing it to a group of paranormal enthusiasts and to the same folklore author who'd been interviewed by the students, only to have them all to believe it must be fake somehow. Gavin Is so invested in the project because he sees it as his Big Break back into real film-making, but I also believe he is influenced by what he saw on that first tape. This is why bringing In a film-crew to document him is  a stroke of genius because it allows us to view both the footage and Gavin through a more objective perspective.

The film casts doubt on its own story's authenticity. People, including the documentary crew, question whether the footage is real or staged (by either the film students or even Gavin himself). Revelations come to light which would sway you in both directions but by having someone openly cast doubt on it makes you want to believe in it even more. Another stroke of genius is when Gavin is invited onto a radio show to discuss the film footage, and none other than Eduardo Sanchez, director of The Blair Witch Project, phones in to advise Gavin not to continue promoting the footage as real.

One of my favourite horror tropes is when technology itself becomes haunted, or we discover information which would have been missed but for modern technology. We get some great examples of that here, first with the video camera capturing images of Peeping Tom, then with the revelations on the sound recordings. It becomes a fun little game to see when you can spot the spectral figure in the background of the footage.

While there is a certain amount of inevitability about the climax of the film, it defies expectations and pushes the bubble further out to encompass the documentary crew. Rather than merely documenting the story, they've become an integral part of it and end up documenting themselves.

THE VERDICT

Drawing on elements of It Follows and The Ring, Butterfly Kisses is a very smart faux documentary and sits at the same level as Lake Mungo. It's urban legend is novel and is depicted really well throughout the film. There is a sense of inevitable dread when watching the black and white segments of the film building to a couple of decent jump scares. Meanwhile, the documentary following Gavin while he tries to make a film and at the same time push the narrative that it's real, makes the whole thing a really compelling watch.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

8 out of 10 (MIKEOUTWEST)