ANACORETA (2023)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Jeremy Schuetze.
Written by Jeremy Schuetze, Matt Visser.
Check out the trailer here!

Two couples go on a weekend visit to their grandfather’s cabin in the woods to film a found footage film. But when it is revealed that Jeremy (Jeremy Schuetze), who is directing the film they are making, has planned out some “scares” to get an authentic reaction from his cast and crew. But after being called out on this reckless behavior, things really do begin to start going wrong with everything culminating to a family grave in the middle of the woods fabled to be haunted by the family who is buried there.

Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
For the most part, everyone is acting naturally. The best of the bunch is Antonia Thomas, who plays the girlfriend of the director who is clueless as to what her boyfriend has planned on the trip. All of them play their roles well, saving some of the clunkier acting scenes for scripted scenes Jeremy needs for his movie. There is a layered reality here as the actors are playing themselves in the movie, as well as playing themselves, playing themselves in a movie.

Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production?
Additional music occurs throughout the film. But since this is sort of a meta-found footage film, it is a bit more feasible, as the “director” in the film might be that type of person who adds music to a found footage film. It’s a mistake, as it hurts the film by making things feel less authentic, but it is there, nevertheless.

Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
Well, it’s because they are making a found footage movie. Some of the best parts of ANACORETA are the bits where the actors get sick of playing themselves or are taken unaware of what is happening, such as a scene where Antonia doesn’t know Jeremy has hired a sound guy to follow them around in the shadows and she thinks there is someone really stalking them. So even when Jeremy promises that they are no longer making the movie, you don’t know if he is still doing so and being so focused on finishing the movie to be taking the lives of himself and his cast and crew into danger. So, they might be giving the excuse that they need the light from the camera, but in the end, it might also be that Jeremy is still making his movie, even when things get deadly.

Are there any found footage cliches like an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
No nothing like that. There are maybe one or two too many times when one of the cast members get frustrated with Jeremy and they need to be alone, so they plop down on a rock and pout until another cast member comes to chat with them. The repetition of this type of scene is necessary to the narrative and illustrates how each cast member begins to lose faith in Jeremy, but still, it gets a little tedious to see this scene so many times.

Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
Because of some great acting from the entire cast, even though there is a lot of lead into the action of the film, I was never bored with ANACORETA. The wrap-up, when they do get to the mausoleum in the middle of the woods, does happen pretty quickly, but it does offer a fun and poetic payoff by the end.

Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
I’m always looking for something new, and the found footage genre is a chock full of films telling the same type of story. While the core story Jeremy originally set out to film was your typical found footager, it turns into something entirely different when the reveal occurs that they were acting the whole time. The cool thing is that despite them saying they are not acting anymore, the film leaves you wondering if they were or weren’t as this type of revelation that what you saw wasn’t real occurs over and over again, making ANACORETA kind of a Dagwood Sandwich of a movie. It reminded me of another layered found footage film, DELICATE ARCH, from last year. It’s a movie inside a movie inside a movie that could be real, or then again, it could be inside of another movie. ANACORETA guessing until the very last frame. It fucks with your head, and I enjoy films that try to do something new like this. Fun stuff.