I have mentioned before that I am a big fan of found footage films. Jennifer Van Gesell’s Water Horse took me to another realm. A realm where found footage meets a dark back story. The style has been tried many times, but these movies are hit or miss. The style never really worked until recently.
Anyway, let’s get to the review.
Synopsis
A paranormal investigator links a bizarre string of seemingly unrelated events to the disappearance of her mother.
Lake of No Return
I have seen several movies with this premise, I mean, The Blair Witch Project astounded viewers before others tried to outdo it. However, none of them were good. Water Horse isn’t just a film; it’s an entire experience. Water Horse takes you on a ride of basic confusion. If you don’t understand the genre, there is not much I can say about this story combo. The film left me completely speechless over how well they nailed this story.
Nailing the trick
Water Horse uses a combo of an interrogation and folks being followed by a video camera, trying to get the next best story. We have seen this done in films like 21 Days that pulled this idea into my favour, complete me, it worked perfectly for a very long time. In the 90’s and early 2000’s saw a brief glance at something I will always consider a terrible film. Films such as Quarantine may have been one of the early found footage genre, and I am glad there isn’t really too much. It took a while with strong dedication to really pull this film off, and it’s clear that Water Horse broke down all those walls and not only flashed to detectives. However, Water Horse was able to switch easily from documentary film to found footage.
The ending really caught me off guard. It was a scene I wasn’t expecting at all. Everything has a completely different ending scene. Water Horse had me between finding knowledge and studying the story, and sitting at the edge of reality. Could this story have actually happened? Probably not, but the film crew made you believe it could. We have all heard local folklore growing up, or moving to a new state, and listening to local legends, especially from senior citizens. We have also seen that done a million times over, and it is very hit or miss. The climax at the end is what I love the most. It is where the monster comes alive, and you don’t know whether to turn the movie off or let it play and infest your brain so you sleep with the light on. Water Horse also captured one of the best climax scenes in my life as a horror movie fan.
In The End
In the end, Water Horse thrilled me, and chilled me. The movie left those uncomfortable negative thoughts, maybe you will even lose sleep. These are the movies most old-school fans hunt down in the current time. I will also admit here and now that all of these blockbuster movies suck, while films like Water Horse go completely under the RADAR. I didn’t want to see anyone have sex with a scarecrow. It is all getting a little weird. The only things left for me are splatter movies, which I also love. Water Horse sits high in my fandom, and it will stay there for a long time.
Water Horse is coming to most cable and streaming services on March 17th, 2026