Lost Things

Martin Murphy's film is an independently-financed supernatural teen horror film concerning four naive adolescents who go on a surf/camping trip and find themselves in every campers' idea of Hell (a nightmare famously embodied in the comparable The Blair Witch Project).

Shot in 12 days on a relatively small budget, the first feature film for stand-up comic turned director, Martin Murphy, holds up as a scary movie, an intriguing concept (the story, according to the director, based on one by Friedrich Nietzsche) and a credible account of teenagers just beginning to stretch their wings. Well-scripted by Stephen Sewell, the kids are all believable individuals, empathetically portrayed without any hint of stereotyping and the naturalism is perhaps assisted by the fact that for two of the main members, Charlie Garber and Alex Vaughan (Brad and Tracey), this was their screen debuts.

With its non-linear editing the film does not always manage to maintain the tension as it switches between time frames but most audiences will appreciate what has been achieved here and forgive the shortcomings.

FYI: The original theatrical release had a runtime of 83 minutes.

 

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