Panic Fest Review: ‘Malibu Horror Story’ Brings a Unique Direction for Found Footage Horror

First conceived in the heyday of found-footage genre, inspired by the release of Paranormal Activity, writer/director Scott Slone (Retreat!) spent nearly ten years honing and reshaping his hybrid horror Malibu Horror Story. Using various techniques, including thermal cameras, CCTV footage, and straightforward filmmaking, the audiences at the Panic Festival 2022 got to see a film that pulls out all the tricks.

A compelling and entertaining horror movie that takes the viewer on a ride that will have you trying to catch your breath once it gets moving. Staring Dylan Sprayberry (“Teen Wolf”), Robert Baily Jr. (“Emergence”), Valentina de Angelis (The Bronx Bull), Rebecca Forsythe (“FBI: Most Wanted”), Tommy Cramer (“Liked”) and Troy James (Hellboy).

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In Malibu Horror Story, four paranormal filmmakers are deep within a mysterious cave about to perform an EVP session for a documentary they’re making. About four Malibu High school students that walked the same trails seven years prior, but were never seen again. With newly discovered evidence and armed with the latest research equipment, they believe themselves prepared to find some answers. Still, they find something much more sinister than anyone would have imagined.

Jake Torrance, Carter Conley, Carlos Garcia, and Tyler Clifford were popular, had just graduated, and were always together. They set off the morning after the celebration, heading deep within the 1400-acre property owned by the Torrance family to say goodbye to an era appropriately. When they didn’t come home the following day, search parties were dispatched but to no avail.

With a community in mourning, the news became a national story. But when a camera was found deep within the woods, revealing excessive drug use, partying, and delinquent behavior, the town stopped trying to find the missing group, and the case went cold.

Paranormal investigator Josh Davidson (Sprayberry) feels that there seems to be something more otherworldly that the authorities didn’t see after re-analyzing the footage. His hopes for a show rests on finding the missing high school students or the reason for their disappearance. Along with his team, Matt (Baily Jr.), Ashley (Angelis), and Jessica (Forsythe), they set out to make a pilot called “Paranormal Files” and solve the near decade-long mystery.

Finding the cave where the fellas were last seen, they set up camp and begin their investigation. The team gets much more than they bargained for, when they call to the spirits asking if anyone is present. Not only will the project be compromised, but they may just get what they asked for, which could cost them their lives.

Malibu Horror Story, on the surface, can be seen as just another found footage movie in a sea of imitators since the Blair Witch Project. But what Slone does is much more creative in telling his story. Jumping between straight narrative, documentary-style, found footage from the missing boys, news footage for realism, and use of what is known as a thermal camera. Which is used to the degree that any actual paranormal show would sacrifice a member for the footage captured here. It’s a juxtaposition in film styles that compliments one another without getting tiresome or redundant. It keeps the narrative moving and is unique from other incarnations of the sub-genre.

Malibu Horror Story gives backstory to the location that feels authentic and not shoehorned to fit a plot device. The history of Native American genocide, with the Dawes Act of 1902 on these lands, gives weight and history to the location. The lore of Shamans, Skinwalkers, religious symbols, and Native American burial sites can feel like trope but are executed authentically. Anyone who knows the history would never set foot on the soil after dark. But unfortunately, our party boys and investigators don’t heed the warnings.

The creature design and VFX are well done. For the most part, shown in quick glimpses through static found footage, it’s enough to provide a feeling of unease about just what it is that is hunting our hapless victims. Stunt performer Troy James, best known for his work as Baba Yaga in the latest Hellboy and the Jangly Man in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, uses his unique ability to contort his body to give us one of the most unsettling creatures in recent years. There Is a spider walk scene down a tunnel and a still camera scene that will make your skin crawl.

Though sometimes a little too repetitive in the quick growling face of the monster running up to the camera as our cast runs away in the dark, it begins to take the sting out of some effective jump scares. Accompanied by the harsh violins from composer Joshua Lim, who delivers a quiet, yet creepy atmospheric sound to the picture, the tension ramps up for the cat and mouse finale.

A mix of sub-genres, Malibu Horror Story manages to blend the styles effectively. Part investigation, part found footage, and part creature feature. Scott Slone manages to combine the three into an engaging and unpredictable story. It’s a welcome change from nausea-inducing kids running around the woods with a video camera that has saturated the field. If you’re hiking in a sacred forest, probably best not to eat a bunch of shrooms before entering a shaman’s cave. Just saying. 3/5

We watched Malibu Horror Story as part of Panic Fest 2022. Check out the trailer below and be sure to follow ScaryNerd for all things horror, sci-fi, fantasy and everything in between.

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