Mind Body Spirit

Found footage is a favourite choice for film-makers with miniscule budgets because the medium lends itself well to thrifty movie-making. You can get away with not showing the monster clearly; not worrying too much about mise en scène; not having flashy special effects. This is largely what makes found footage work: it's raw, unfiltered and, above all, it feels genuine.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing number of found footage films where the creators have opted for the genre to save money, without actually considering what makes an FF film work.

Mind Body Spirit is one if these films. Ostensibly a collection of recordings from a wannabe YouTube star making wellness videos, the film falls at the first hurdle by completely undermining the idea that this is anything but a low-budget film.

It breaks a cardinal sin of Found Footage by having a soundtrack. There is ambient music and non-diagetic sound throughout, which immediately makes the film seem completely disingenuous. The filmmakers seem to have added it because, y'know, that's what happens in scary movies, forgetting that this is meant to be a series of candid, unedited recordings from an amateur filmmaker.

Then there are scenes which seem to be showing what's going on in the protagonists head, despite the fact that it makes no sense that the camera would capture them.

There was the scene with the "string", which featured such laughably unrealistic and entirely unnecessary special effects, it brought the while scene to a grinding halt.

And there are all the scenes where the camera moves in it's own, with no explanation, in just the right way to capture things in a cinematic way.

If you're going to make a found footage film, every single attempt you make to be more cinematic weakens the authenticity, and ultimately just reminds the viewer that they're watching a zero-budget indy movie.

Anya starts to explore her Slavic ancestry after moving into her inherited grandmother's house and finds a book left by her grandmother with mysterious rituals. She decides these rituals make better content than the usual yoga instructions she has tried to build an online following with.

Good ideas, the film keeps your attention throughout.

But the acting is so-so and the different themes don't quite fit together. Online yoga and the shallowness of the influencer culture is one important layer, which could have been explored a lot more. The Russian yoga traditions, with such luminaries as the Roerich couple, is hinted at, but largely absent.

So, I have a theory about how the ideas behind this film came together. The writers discussed how creepy yoga can actually be (strange body stretching, weird postures and falsely smiling faces). They googled yoga and found Agni Yoga, the Russian variety, as well as the discussions about cultural appropriation and inauthenticity. Without doing more research than that, they put this film together. That would be the explanation to why the film lacks a satisfying whole and is rather a mishmash of stuff related to the word Yoga.

Again though, a quick and attention-grabbing flick.

"Mind Body Spirit" (2023) is a found footage horror film that delves into the dark side of influencer culture and spiritual obsession. The film follows Anya, an aspiring yoga influencer who moves into her estranged grandmother's home to record her first video. There, she discovers a hidden room filled with cryptic messages and items left behind by her grandmother, Verasha.

Intrigued, Anya begins to incorporate Verasha's teachings into her online persona, leading to a surge in popularity. However, as Anya delves deeper into the mysterious practices, she unwittingly unleashes an otherworldly entity that begins to manipulate her life and her videos. The film explores themes of fame, self-destruction, and the dangers of blindly following spiritual practices without understanding their true nature.

"Mind Body Spirit" effectively utilizes the found footage format to create a sense of immediacy and realism. The shaky camera work and intimate perspective heighten the tension and make the events on screen feel more visceral. The film also benefits from strong performances, particularly from Sarah J. Bartholomew as Anya. Her descent into obsession is both chilling and believable.

However, the film's reliance on jump scares and predictable plot twists can detract from its overall impact. Additionally, the ending feels somewhat rushed and leaves several questions unanswered. Despite these shortcomings, "Mind Body Spirit" offers a thought-provoking commentary on the influencer age and the dangers of unchecked ambition. It's a chilling reminder that the pursuit of fame and fortune can come at a steep price, especially when it involves delving into the unknown.

An aspiring yoga influencer goes to live in her late grandmother's house while working to elevate her channel and gain a following. A tale of jealousy and family demons, at times literally, is what follows. Mind Body Spirit is the latest in what seems like an endless slew of low budget found footage movies, and I'll start by saying that as far as that goes this one does manage to stand above the majority. Some fun and at times clever camera work and strong performances, especially by Sarah Barholomew, drive the movie and show that everybody involved has a lot of potential down the road. There are moments that are genuinely creepy, particularly a haunting hallucination involving one character witnessing varying versions of her own spiraling sanity. The downside is that the movie becomes more and more repetitive as it continues, and it breaks many a rule that is a no no to break in a found footage flick, particularly with its use of music. It also feels like a watered down version of Hereditary set in the found footage genre, but not being done as well it fails to live up to its obvious inspiration or provide anything unique to that story outside of the yoga setting. Mind Body Spirit has potential and is even worth a watch, but don't go in expecting anything above average which believe it or not is a compliment for this horror sub-genre.

Another film focussing on nauseating self-centred social media influencers. Another "found footage" film that brings nothing new or interesting...potentially even less than the minimum you'd expect.

At points it seems like it's trying to being satirical about how pretentious, ostentatious and vapid influencers are, but it's not done well if that was a motive of the writers as it would be missed by most viewers as the fake product placements ads almost glorify them.

The story itself is rather hollow. While there's some attempt to tie it to ancient slavic rituals of the main character's grandmother and ancestors, there's no depth to it at all, or any real back-story, and is merely a minor attempt to create the basis for the "creepy old lady in the dark" trope.