DAGR (2024)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Matthew Butler-Hart.
Written by Matthew Butler-Hart, Tori Butler-Hart, Graham Butler.
Check out the trailer here!!

Louise (Riz Moritz) and Thea (Ellie Duckles) are a pair of anonymous influencers, whose schtick is to steal from the rich and donate to themselves. They plan a new heist at a fashion photo shoot at an old English mansion. Posing as craft services, the girls find themselves in the middle of a paranormal incident where the former owners of the mansion, a coven of ancient druids, return for new souls to take.

Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
The acting in DAGR is actually quite solid. Now, if you’ve followed the channel, you know I’m not a fan of films about influencers, which is ironic because, I guess I’m one of those of sorts. Still, there’s just something unlikable about people who show their faces and try to become famous via extreme content. Louise and Thea are rather despicable people, as they seem to try to say they are pulling their antics for the sake of good, but somehow the two actors still pull off being likable leads. The actors in the photo shoot are ok as well, all playing things seriously and straight, especially when the druids show up and the bodies start falling. All in all, there are no complaints from me on the acting in this one.

Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production (which means there is no omniscient editor making multiple edits between cameras or an invisible orchestra providing music)?
DAGR has a few subtle musical cues which act more like constant background droning to set a tone. But most of the soundtrack creepiness come from the ever-present chanting from the druids, which indeed succeed in being off-setting. The multiple angle way the story is edited together is explained away at the beginning as they said investigators spliced the various footage together to get a better understanding of what went down. It’s a bit of a copout to use multiple POV’s, but DAGR does something interesting by basically grabbing one camera, watching what’s going on that one until it gets to the present, and then starting anew with a new device that continues the tale. It’s rather an inventive way to justify the different cameras.

Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
While most of the time, I feel there needs to be the justification spoken aloud for the cameras to keep rolling, in DAGR, I think that the fact that these influencers are very representational of their generation and have their phones basically recording and glued to their hands at every moment of the day is an excuse enough that this footage was captured. The other footage comes from cameras from the photo shoot and very few of them are used after the paranormal stuff occurs. Some of the people filming seem to be doing so simply because they are scared and don’t even know that they are still filming as well.

Is there an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
Yeah, there are both. Even though the up-nose shot is done in jest, it’s still one of the lamer antics the girls try to pull off. The drag away, though, is not. The fact that DAGR has both in it, ironic attempt at comedy or not, is definitely points against this film.

Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
DAGR manages to tell a pretty solid WICKER MAN like folk horror story about outsiders stumbling into a town haunted by ancient, evil druids. While the characters are somewhat annoying, the action occurs pretty much at the twenty minute mark and continues at a decent clip until the end. The ending is rather abrupt and involves a camera falling at just the right angle in order to capture the shot, but still, wrapped up in a decisive and creepy way.

Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
DAGR is a decent little found footager with likable characters, solid acting, creepy druids, and all kinds of strange paranormal stuff occurring. I do think that the film missed a fun opportunity of not using Louise and Thea’s emoji mask filters all through the film. They use these filters because the content they post would get them arrested if their faces were shown and because this installment of their show hasn’t been edited, the emojis weren’t used. Now, it might make for some goofy scenes, but if done competently, it would have made DAGR a much more unique film. Of course, like Marvel movies, I feel that the necessity of showing the person behind the mask is one of the more annoying aspects of how vain people are. As is, DAGR is a typical found footager with heavy heapings of folk horror.