(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A group of friends travel for a weekend away to an isolated cabin in the woods to shoot an experimental horror movie. Slowly the film begins to unravel, and we see the true monster appear from the shadows. The director.”
I’ve mentioned before – much to the chagrin of a significant portion of the SciFiHistory.Net readership – that I’m a fan of the whole ‘found footage format’ of storytelling.
Yes, yes, and yes: I hear you. I realize that – to some degree – it’s been done to death. Any auteur with a video camera or a Smartphone can throw one together over a weekend. Naturally, the results will vary, but – from my limited perspective – these stories might just be the last bastion of truly original yarnspinning on affordable budgets. They have their own DNA – some of its obviously ‘junk DNA,’ if you catch my meaning – and they’re arguably not for everyone. That being said, if you’re entirely uninterested in knowing more about yet one more of these entries, feel free to turn and run at this juncture.
For those of you still reading (and thank you for doing so), Anacoreta (2022) is a bit of a puzzle critically, narratively, and experimentally. Writer/director Jeremy Schuetze (who also headlines the piece) plays Jeremy – an emerging screenwriter and director – who can’t quite seem to catch a break in the process of building a kinda/sorta ‘found footage’ film entirely of his own. But being the resilient soul that he is, Jeremy drags his girlfriend Antonia (played by Antonia Thomas) and pals Matt (Matt Visser) and Jesse (Jesse Stanley) along with a few others into the great American frontier for a weekend of guerilla filmmaking … the kind where there’s really no script but an amalgam of ideas loosely strung together around a premise (not a plot).
As the dirty little secret to the subgenre is nothing is as it seems nor will it function without innumerable plot twists, Anacoreta sadly unfolds in the same kinda/sorta loopy, nebulous, and predictable format. Jeremy’s penchant for not sharing production details with the cast leads to a few easy surprises, giving a few of the film’s earlier scenes a modest bit of the usual but necessary nightmare fuel. Sadly, there just isn’t enough serious momentum to any of his/their shenanigans, and Anacoreta can’t quite salvage any big scares on its limited budget with the otherwise workable Folk Horror concept of its second half.
Making matters worse, Schuetze hasn’t really even built a legitimate ‘found footage film’ to begin with. While that’s how it’s advertised and clearly hums in a few sequences, the fragile reality that everything one sees is entirely manufactured cannot be escaped. For example, no one ever (ever!) takes of their individual microphones, meaning that the audience can hear them clearly whether or not they’re a hundred meters away or even on the other side of a closed door or window. A few scenes are even backed with theme music; and – apologies, folks – that defies the whole ‘found footage’ construct. Because the flick never separates itself from the feeling of a studio shoot, it grows increasingly clear that what he and his conspirators are attempting isn’t some theatrical discovery after the team’s demise but a work of pure fiction … a kinda/sorta film within a film within a film.
Indeed, when Anacoreta reaches its fever pitch, there’s barely any realistic ‘found footage’ in here, and there’s even less Horror. What there is are pieces of each type of story, but they’re so predictably strung together I can’t imagine anyone falling for the ruse at any point on the shared journey. The characters themselves aren’t unique enough to warrant anything particularly explosive either: each is rather plainly drawn to serve the assembly instead of serving the story on any emotional level, so audiences end up spending about ninety minutes with the blandest road trip ever, never getting to the big scary reveal one shows up expecting from this kind of fare.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that – according to IMDB.com – the film was completed in 2022 (the site indicates it made a festival appearance) but appears to have languished in obscurity until 2026. That curious fact alone suggests that maybe the effort just wasn’t significant enough to land any major distribution deal (until the present when streamers are constantly searching for new content); and it kinda/sorta suggests that – ahem – maybe this one is a bit sub-standard. Granted, found footage projects aren’t exactly hot properties these days; and the fact that this one both is and isn’t a chiller or thriller on any conceivable level underscores that those heading in expecting something special are likely to be disappointed … to say the least.
Anacoreta (2022) was produced by FilmHub. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the film is available via a variety of streaming sources. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can assure you that writer/director fashioned this effort as a ‘found footage’ type; and, sadly, he mimics mostly the weaknesses of that subgenre throughout with the singular exception (a dead giveaway, too) of constantly ‘miking up’ the participants. As such, it never quite feels at all like found footage, and that’s something everyone should keep in mind while watching. (Hint: it may not be.) Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Because I viewed this one via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
While my problems with Anacoreta (2022) are myriad, my disapproval of it boils down to the fact that not only is it most patently not a ‘found footage film’ (as producers advertised) but also it really offer the slim pickings of an actual story. Its characters are dimensionless clones that we’ve all seen elsewhere (and performed better); and its constantly shifting focus from one to the next makes it difficult to appreciate much less care about this odd journey they seemingly find themselves wrapped up in. Lastly, it isn’t even an authentic Horror flick – which, again, is what many of us went in expecting – making me feel like everyone involved knew full well they’d have to dupe potential viewers into accepting what they made … not unlike the tale’s budding filmmaker’s best efforts. At best, it’s a theatrical parlor trick, the kind that gets celebrated at festivals but never finds mass appeal.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at FilmHub provided me with complimentary streaming access to Anacoreta (2022) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A group of friends travel for a weekend away to an isolated cabin in the woods to shoot an experimental horror movie. Slowly the film begins to unravel, and we see the true monster appear from the shadows. The director.”
I’ve mentioned before – much to the chagrin of a significant portion of the SciFiHistory.Net readership – that I’m a fan of the whole ‘found footage format’ of storytelling.
Yes, yes, and yes: I hear you. I realize that – to some degree – it’s been done to death. Any auteur with a video camera or a Smartphone can throw one together over a weekend. Naturally, the results will vary, but – from my limited perspective – these stories might just be the last bastion of truly original yarnspinning on affordable budgets. They have their own DNA – some of its obviously ‘junk DNA,’ if you catch my meaning – and they’re arguably not for everyone. That being said, if you’re entirely uninterested in knowing more about yet one more of these entries, feel free to turn and run at this juncture.
For those of you still reading (and thank you for doing so), Anacoreta (2022) is a bit of a puzzle critically, narratively, and experimentally. Writer/director Jeremy Schuetze (who also headlines the piece) plays Jeremy – an emerging screenwriter and director – who can’t quite seem to catch a break in the process of building a kinda/sorta ‘found footage’ film entirely of his own. But being the resilient soul that he is, Jeremy drags his girlfriend Antonia (played by Antonia Thomas) and pals Matt (Matt Visser) and Jesse (Jesse Stanley) along with a few others into the great American frontier for a weekend of guerilla filmmaking … the kind where there’s really no script but an amalgam of ideas loosely strung together around a premise (not a plot).
As the dirty little secret to the subgenre is nothing is as it seems nor will it function without innumerable plot twists, Anacoreta sadly unfolds in the same kinda/sorta loopy, nebulous, and predictable format. Jeremy’s penchant for not sharing production details with the cast leads to a few easy surprises, giving a few of the film’s earlier scenes a modest bit of the usual but necessary nightmare fuel. Sadly, there just isn’t enough serious momentum to any of his/their shenanigans, and Anacoreta can’t quite salvage any big scares on its limited budget with the otherwise workable Folk Horror concept of its second half.
Making matters worse, Schuetze hasn’t really even built a legitimate ‘found footage film’ to begin with. While that’s how it’s advertised and clearly hums in a few sequences, the fragile reality that everything one sees is entirely manufactured cannot be escaped. For example, no one ever (ever!) takes of their individual microphones, meaning that the audience can hear them clearly whether or not they’re a hundred meters away or even on the other side of a closed door or window. A few scenes are even backed with theme music; and – apologies, folks – that defies the whole ‘found footage’ construct. Because the flick never separates itself from the feeling of a studio shoot, it grows increasingly clear that what he and his conspirators are attempting isn’t some theatrical discovery after the team’s demise but a work of pure fiction … a kinda/sorta film within a film within a film.
Indeed, when Anacoreta reaches its fever pitch, there’s barely any realistic ‘found footage’ in here, and there’s even less Horror. What there is are pieces of each type of story, but they’re so predictably strung together I can’t imagine anyone falling for the ruse at any point on the shared journey. The characters themselves aren’t unique enough to warrant anything particularly explosive either: each is rather plainly drawn to serve the assembly instead of serving the story on any emotional level, so audiences end up spending about ninety minutes with the blandest road trip ever, never getting to the big scary reveal one shows up expecting from this kind of fare.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that – according to IMDB.com – the film was completed in 2022 (the site indicates it made a festival appearance) but appears to have languished in obscurity until 2026. That curious fact alone suggests that maybe the effort just wasn’t significant enough to land any major distribution deal (until the present when streamers are constantly searching for new content); and it kinda/sorta suggests that – ahem – maybe this one is a bit sub-standard. Granted, found footage projects aren’t exactly hot properties these days; and the fact that this one both is and isn’t a chiller or thriller on any conceivable level underscores that those heading in expecting something special are likely to be disappointed … to say the least.
Anacoreta (2022) was produced by FilmHub. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the film is available via a variety of streaming sources. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can assure you that writer/director fashioned this effort as a ‘found footage’ type; and, sadly, he mimics mostly the weaknesses of that subgenre throughout with the singular exception (a dead giveaway, too) of constantly ‘miking up’ the participants. As such, it never quite feels at all like found footage, and that’s something everyone should keep in mind while watching. (Hint: it may not be.) Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Because I viewed this one via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
While my problems with Anacoreta (2022) are myriad, my disapproval of it boils down to the fact that not only is it most patently not a ‘found footage film’ (as producers advertised) but also it really offer the slim pickings of an actual story. Its characters are dimensionless clones that we’ve all seen elsewhere (and performed better); and its constantly shifting focus from one to the next makes it difficult to appreciate much less care about this odd journey they seemingly find themselves wrapped up in. Lastly, it isn’t even an authentic Horror flick – which, again, is what many of us went in expecting – making me feel like everyone involved knew full well they’d have to dupe potential viewers into accepting what they made … not unlike the tale’s budding filmmaker’s best efforts. At best, it’s a theatrical parlor trick, the kind that gets celebrated at festivals but never finds mass appeal.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at FilmHub provided me with complimentary streaming access to Anacoreta (2022) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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