Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth

This seems like a very lazy premise for a film. And a way to sneak the film past viewers. I'd like to have seen this as fiction. But to open your heart and mind to a situation, only to learn it's a lie? That feels like a cheat. The premise is not even sufficiently novel to sustain its fictional underpinnings. It's a David Paullides gone missing story, draped with mystical sorcerer underpinnings. Happily, I picked up on the mock tone quickly, and granted I rented it while in pain, but I wanted a documentary. What I watched didn't sustain my interest as fiction, and I felt cheated out of the documentary I sought.

I love that it was a different kind of horror film. It invites the viewer to be a part of the story.

'Blue Hour' is an intriguing mystery that feels believable and spooky.

It was not about buckets of blood or gross effects that many do for shock value. Instead, it has talented main characters and a supportive cast that is engaging and entertaining. The cinematography looks great, with camera angles that embed you in the environment and help convey the overall bleakness of hope they may have of finding what happened to Nick Brandreth. It is very well-directed and smartly paced. I hope to see more like this.

As someone who watched Incident at Lake County on TV when it first came out, and Blair Witch Project in the theater on day one, I can respect and admire a film like Blue Hour. The film follows the directorial and "bad acting" traditions of Incident at Lake County, Blair Witch and even Lake Mungo. The cut scenes with reporters doing a very poor job and horrible acting with police and detectives is right out of all the best classics, and I think is deliberate. You can see the design in how the main characters perform, then in come the bad reporters and worse police.

The cinematography also pays homage to the classics. For those who rated this film badly, you need to watch the classics before you lay down the law with your bad reviews. That rule goes for any film of this genre and style. I enjoyed it and hope to see more in this style from the director.

And unfortunately this just doesn't have it. Really unique premise, but the acting just kills it. Poor acting is an absolute death sentence for found footage as it just rips us out of the story. You don't need the best actors, as proven by many found footage movies, but just natural dialogue. This you could absolutely tell was reading from a script. Really great use of vintage footage, fun edits and overall concept. Was really hoping to like it, but 30 min in just lost me and wasn't picking up the pace fast enough. More discerning editing and better actors would highly enhance the movie to the next level.

This is a movie that I got the chance to see via screener thanks to Emma from Entertainment Squad. There were a few screeners that I could check out and when I saw this was horror as well as a 2023 release, that was all I needed to know. I like to support independent filmmaking when I can, so that was a bonus as well.

Synopsis: Olivia Brandreth (Morgan DeTogne) was nine years old when her father disappeared. Twenty-five years later, she returns to her childhood home to get closure in an unrelenting attempt to set the record straight.

That synopsis does well in recapping what we get here. We are getting a mockumentary/found-footage type film. Olivia is a filmmaker who works with Chris Donovan (Michael Kowalski). Due to her father, Nick (Nick Brandreth), disappearing she wants to do a documentary to investigate this. She has a history of working in true crime so she's built up that clout.

What we knew at the start was that Nick was a photographer. Along with his wife, Francine (Donna Carpino) and daughter, they lived in Rochester, New York. What was odd is that he disappeared in the nearby woods. It was ruled a suicide by the police since there was a gun and a spent shell casing found. There wasn't a body though. Things aren't adding up and Olivia wants to find the truth.

Olivia interviews her mother along with the lead detective on the case of Capt. Frank Lynch (Josh Olkowski). There is an arrogance about him that rubs the Brandreth family the wrong way. He ignores evidence that was presented. He is clearly determined that he was right in his findings.

There is a break in the case through interviewing Henry Davenport (Robert Husted). He ran a photography store and allowed Nick to use his dark room. Olivia finds a trip camera, one that originally belonged to Horace Cody Taylor (Robert J Jeffords). Henry has the pictures taken and this is where it gets weird. There are individuals in the shots wearing hooded robes. In the images there is a freestanding door in the woods as well. Henry warns them about what he shows them and to be careful.

Another break is in the form of a private investigator who was hired for the case originally. He states to Olivia that he found her father. His explanation moves into the supernatural as well as into the cosmic. Other dimensions might be involved here.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I wanted to give you enough information to tease without spoiling. Where I'll start then with my breakdown is that this felt a lot like Lake Mungo or The Conspiracy. The realism here is that we get fake credits for the documentary that Olivia and Chris are making. I loved that. Found footage or mockumentaries need to be built in the basis of this happened. It is a good touch here.

Going along with this, the case of what happened to Nick is spooky and yet grounded in the start. How many cold cases have a simple, yet unexplained concept? What everyone knows is that Nick went into the woods and disappeared. There was a gun found and a spent shell. I can't fully fault Capt. Lynch in his explanation. There is something fishy when photographs are presented to him and dismisses immediately. I get the idea that he is covering up what happened here. That makes me think of The Conspiracy. Being that he works along with the government, he knows more than he's letting on and trying to close this case without people prying into it. There is a little thing that happens with Olivia that made me think this.

Where I want to then shift is supernatural/cosmic ideas we get here. There is this cult, which I'm a sucker for. We see these images of a freestanding door in the woods as well. This movie brings in the ideas of time travel and alternate dimensions. Francine and Capt. Lynch laughed him off originally. Olivia and Chris don't believe him. We see something that happen that makes us believe. He knows things he shouldn't. What I also like is that we get history of what this cult worships. I'm sure they're added this specific image to the old paintings/drawings, but I'm a mark for that as well. Everything here piques my interest.

I need to shift to a negative though. There are effects here that I didn't love. Not enough to ruin things, but they just didn't fit with everything that we got to that point. They are used a few times after that as well. I like the implications though. I also like having these random doors that appear in different places. There is something unnerving about it. The cinematography is well done there. I do like the found footage/mockumentary feel. That makes us part of it so it builds atmosphere. We do get music in this. What I'll say there is that it can ruin movies filmed like this. Since we are seeing the edited product. It worked.

All that I want to go into here then would be the acting. The acting feels amateur, but I give it props there. That makes it feel more real to me. DeTogne feels like this woman who wants to find out what happened to her father. Kowalski works as her counterpart. I also like Mike Headford as a camera man here. We don't see him a lot, but we know he's there. It explains the more cinematic shots as well. Brandreth is good as our missing person. I'll also credit Carpino, Olkowski, Husted, Jeffords and the rest of the cast to round out what was needed. There is hit or miss acting, but not enough to ruin things. It again feels more real.

In conclusion, this is a tight little mockumentary. I like that we start this grounded. I'm there for this unexplained case that you'd get with true crime. The deeper that Olivia digs, the more things go supernatural and into the cosmic realm. I thought that DeTogne along with the rest of the cast were believable in their roles. This is well-made. The filming style works and it feels like we are there with them. My only gripe is an effect used. It pulls me out slightly. If you like these types of movies, I'd recommend it for sure.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.