Cruel: The Cross Village Encounter

If you're tired of Hollywood's AI soulless junk and want to have fun watching what a group of friends can accomplish with creativity and a strong passion for the horror genre, check this out.

The film begins as a very believable documentary about the Dogman legend, in which the actors do a great job of convincing you that they are not actors.

There is one alleged female victim of the Dogman who barely blinks as she tells the interviewer the story of what happened to her and her friends. If you make it to the end, you will be pleasantly surprised and creeped out by the left turn the plot takes.

It would be lazy to compare this film to the Blair witch bore-fest, so I won't because The Cross Village Encounter is a much better film.

At one point, there is a scene where the protagonists-young group of friends-documentary-makers are in a car discussing the possibility of men having carnal relationships with dogs that feels so authentic and like you're watching a real group of friends just having fun and not acting at all.

I have seen two films now by director Victor Gabriel, and his creations always have this vibe that reminds me of what it was like to hang out with my friends back in the early 2000's, fooling around with a camera after school while dreaming we were going to be filmmakers some days. Most of those friends are gone now. Taken by drugs, the streets, hurricanes, etc.

And the ones who are still around have changed so much that I wouldn't be able to recognize them anymore. Life has a way of doing that. So I think is beautiful when a group of dreamers grows up and actually goes on to work on making their dreams come true. Those are the kind of people that I admire. Those are the kinds of artists who are worth rooting.