Written and directed by Jeremy Schuetze, co-written by Matt Visser, 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. Starring: Antonia Thomas, Jeremy Schuetze, Matt Visser, Jesse Stanley, Ben Gulliver and Alonso Lozano Arellano.
For an indie horror flick Anacoreta checks a lot of great boxes: set in a cabin in the woods, isolated, found footage style, having the characters also making their own movie and getting more than they bargained for, with infighting, mistrust, and a little bit of power dynamics. It’s a classic combination so on paper, this should start out on great footing but in reality, it struggles and that struggle never really lets up. Part of the issue being starting off with the most overused fable in the history of film and television, The Scorpion and the Frog. Everyone knows the story, it has a very simple point, and at this point it’s frustrating and repetitive.
The next obstacle is that even in the synopsis, and pretty immediately in the film, they entirely give away that the director has sketchy intentions and, to put it plainly, is basically a massive dick. Jeremy Schuetze as the director Jeremy acts inherently suspicious and is constantly squirming whenever questioned. That in itself wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t basically the only card that Anacoreta has to play. The entire question of the film is purely: how much of what’s going on is fake? And that’s not enough to sustain a film, when you’re not also giving the audience likeable characters, mystery or any form of scare.
The plot is overtly simple, there’s very little happening and it moves slowly to the point that it feels much longer than eighty-five minutes. The psychological element is missing, there’s no true fear or threat, and when it’s already making you assume that most of what’s happening is just a construct, there’s nowhere for it to go. The performances are decent, the direction hits the right notes to nicely fit the found footage genre and the settings were well chosen, but the choices of the script make it very difficult to take any of it seriously, which undermines its intentions.
Anacoreta underestimates its audience and overestimates their patience. It moves too slowly, not enough is happening and it gives away too much of its plot and intentions right off the bat. All of those choices leave one remaining element to rescue the film and leave a good impression on viewers, go out with a bang. Unfortunately, the ending is even more frustrating and clichéd than the rest of the film and ultimately leaves you feeling like the experience was pretty pointless.
FilmCarnage.com 