The images found have a supply issue. There are only so many camcorders left in the woods, only so many hard drives removed from a crime scene, and horror fans learned the rhythm of this setup a long time ago. The depths gets around the shortage by asking about something the format left out. What if the camera could leave your body and continue recording? Writer and director Tristan Reed puts a brother and sister at the center. They are good at astral projection, filming what happens, and the images they bring back have more to do with the house they grew up in than anything that awaits them in the dark. Eric Roberts arrives. Eric Roberts always appears, and I mean that warmly.
The camera can finally leave the room
Two rules hold the found images together. Someone needs to hold the camera and someone needs to stay in the building while things get worse. We’ve heard all the excuses for both. Battery life. Documentary deadline. The insurance company needs this on file. Astral projection skirts the problem instead of discussing it. The perspective remains subjective and limited, which is the driving force of the format, but the body ceases to be an anchor point. A locked door turns into a suggestion.
In press materials for the film, Reed described his feature debut as a mix of “atmospheric POV terror and wacky slasher tropes, with a dash of modern analog horror.” This is unreasonable baggage for a 88 minute film to transport, and most of it makes the trip. When The Depths runs on its central idea, it feels like a format is given a new verb, and Reed films these snippets as if he knew exactly what he had.
The family stuff is the reason the rest holds together. Trauma isn’t a late revelation to explain the monster, and Isabella Bonanno and Ryan Yauger have to sell a sisterly relationship while selling the physical experience of leaving a body. There’s also a real imagination to the images once things start to go wrong. Not really a shock. Plus the specific discomfort of looking at something that you shouldn’t be able to see.
Then he puts the camera down
Ideas are not the problem. The distance between them is. The film builds momentum then stops, returning to the information already provided, leading to a projection sequence roughly the intensity of the one that precedes it. Found footage works on dead air, but dead air only works when the audience believes something is hidden. It hurts even more here because the premise makes a promise. Each outing should be worse than the last. Eighty-eight minutes is nothing, and sequences seemed longer than films twice as long.
Design is the other obstacle. Found footage requires a leap of faith that it was captured rather than constructed, and that everything inside the frame counts as evidence, including the wardrobe. A few costume choices here read like decisions rather than things that exist in a room, and the focus shifts from horror to couture. This is not a budget complaint. Some of the most disturbing found footage ever filmed was made for nothing, because the format’s cheapest resource is restraint. Keep it partial, keep it moving, keep it half glimpsed.
Then the slasher takes the wheel. Reed said the influence was part of the plan, so no one was harassed, and I like slashers. The frustration lies in the exchange rate, as the supernatural concept contains a weirder, nastier film than the chase material that ultimately takes over. Viewers who weighed in landed near the same spot, warm on location and cooler once the broadcast began, although the coverage was thin enough that I wouldn’t call it a consensus. The killing equipment is competent. Astral matter is inspired. Competent is a demotion.
Terror Films Releasing is bringing The Depths to streaming on September 18, including Tubi, Chilling, The Roku Channel and Fandango at Home, with additional platforms also planned. Luna Verdict: Stream it. It’s worth seeking out if you’re serious about watching found footage or like a supernatural premise that isn’t just another cursed tape. Sags in pacing and a few design choices break the spell, so it’s not essential. Reed found a door in a room that everyone thought was fully measured. I want to see him get through this faster.
