Untitled Horror Movie: A blend of found footage and horror-comedy

The upcoming Untitled Horror Movie looks to blend found footage, video chat, and horror-comedy into a concoction that will please genre fans.

In this era of one-click video recording, more and more horror directors are utilizing a found footage approach to create an experience that cuts closer to the bone. But Nick Simon’s forthcoming effort, Untitled Horror Movie, promises a lighter touch than most offerings in this notoriously bleak subgenre (The Blair Witch Project, anyone?).

Let’s face it: 2020 has been a loaded year, and we’re only halfway through. Filmed remotely during the pandemic lockdown, Untitled Horror Movie will blend a satirical approach to the fickle nature of the film industry, with a supernatural twist.

Simon’s 2015 effort, The Girl in the Photographs, took a semi-satirical approach to the modeling industry, lecherous shutterbugs, and naive youths in over their heads. It wasn’t the most incisive film on the subject (Blow-Up remains the gold standard), but Untitled Horror Movie sounds more ambitious on a technical level.

The press release lays out the plot:

"“With their hit TV show on the brink of cancellation, six actors decide to film their own horror movie. In their search for a plot, they unintentionally summon a spirit with an affinity for violence, who starts picking them off… one vapid actor at a time. [The film is] Set on computer screens and found footage style content…”"

Horror movies have employed the “Skype’s-eye-view” approach to varying levels of success. Unfriended was an early example that made impressive use of the seemingly banal world of people sitting around in video chat, only to be caught in the undertow of something sinister.

Granted, Unfriended also featured a cast of characters who, despite their flaws, engendered empathy with the viewer. One hopes that the “…one vapid actor at a time” conceit is anchored by innovative writing and unique character traits (“vapid” can be interesting and effective…if the victims have depth (even though that sounds like a contradiction).

Written by and starring Luke Baines (Under the Silver Lake), Untitled Horror Movie also features Claire Holt (47 Meters Down), Darren Barnet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), Katherine McNamara (Arrow), and Timothy Granaderos (13 Reasons Why).

Are you looking forward to Untitled Horror Movie? Let us know in the comments.