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ABOUT THE SHOW:
This show celebrates Ryan’s love for film, games, art and entertainment through personal retrospective analysis that aims to explore what made them so good.
MUSIC:
Beyond the Lows by The Whole Other
Breakfast Alone by The Whole Other
Aurora Currents by Asher Fulero
Floating Home by Brian Bolger
Melancholia by Godmode
Frightmare by Jimena Contreras
Devil’s Organ by Jimena Contreras
Anxious by Se.xtile
Blue Sizzle – Madness Paranoia by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Source:
Artist:
Precipice by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
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00:00 – The Story
12:34 – The Photographs (Spoiler)
Comments
46 responses to “The First "Found Photography" Horror Film”
What should I cover next? … Comment below!
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I think the cover up wouldn't have only driven by xenophobia. Leaving aside that aspect for a sec, if I said to you that a town was massacred by some supernatural beings and not a lone crazy, you would accuse me of being a conspiracy nut like Alex Jones. The authorities would have been desperate to sweep that under the carpet and the public more eager to believe the lone crazy theory.
Appreciate you saying that the hatred is in SOME parts of American society. We don’t all hate people who look or sound different from us.
loved this film!! When I first watched it I didn't realise it was a "film" and not a documenatary. I got about half way though and when shit hit the wall I paused and looked the film up finding out it wasn't real XD
I think the fact that I didn;t know what I was going into before watching made it so much better of an experience!
Carlos Olivares (the retired border patrol officer), like Carlos Oliveira from Resident Evil 3? I wonder if there are any other references in the film?
Something to be brought up is that Savageland is presented as an in-universe documentary made by Lawrence Ross, who is a real author and reporter, playing a fictionalized version of himself.
The documentary is a poorly made one as well. Ross in the film found the photos but did not make them public until he finished his documentary, and on top of that being pretty horrible, he attempts to clumsily tie in what happened at the town with racially motivated riots and hate crimes, despite the clear evidence something much more unnatural happened that night.
Ultimately nobody was particularly interested in the truth and everyone had an agenda, including Ross. Salazar was just used as a pawn by awful people on both sides who didn't care about him.
With that in mind I feel kinder towards the ending. Basically everyone ignored the obvious horror coming at them and instead used it to push thier own agendas, so the nightmare is just going to happen again.
I'm tripping balls rn and thought this was about a rl documentary for a sec-
I agree the add-on ending sucked
Alright, I just watched this movie and I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU, RYAN. …you'll never see this lmao.
I get why they did his bite the way they did.
They never said the duration infection took, or the type of trigger required. In fact, the implication is death is what triggers it due to the man who went to his house, grievously injured, and only came back after he died. Salazar could've probably lived another 20 years without turning, until his heart stopped and/or brain activity ceased. And due to the maniacal nature with which these zombies act, it ends up being an incredibly slow infection rate. They tore their victims apart and destroyed their brains and bodies in 99% of encounters. Only those who manage to get away, like Salazar being on the other side of the bars, will achieve infection, keeping their numbers at a minimum.
So they're rage zombies like 28 Days Later in that they obliterate their food, and the infection works like The Walking Dead, but doesn't cause the body to go into a panic mode, breaking into a deadly fever, when all you receive is a bite. It's something that runs under the autoimmune response, waiting to accelerate.
I understand the resistance to the ending twist but in this case I think it's good for the film's message: when bad actors force the legal system to bury its head in the sand and carry out fake retributive 'justice,' the underlying problem will not go away.
Also this is Arizona, there's places out here you could hide an aircraft carrier and as long as you stayed off the interstate no one would be the wiser.
I had never heard of this film before and I'm so glad you're giving something so unique and interesting its due time. This one really FEELS like a true underrated gem getting its day in the sun and I love it. The photographs are some of the most effective horror imagery I've seen in a very long time, speaking as someone who's watched horror films since well before I should have been. It reminds me both of 30 Days of Night and somewhat of the horrifying outcome of people attempting to make otherwise mundane AI art of human faces.
I was really surprised how great this movie is. I was truly how devastated at the end.
Horror mockumentaries are so good. I was watching this with a friend who was less familiar with the concept and was absolutely terrified because she thought it was an actual true crime documentary the entire time.
Something I particularly liked about the detail of the flash is that (if I remember correctly), Salazar mentions that the flash is scaring the ghouls away. So it’s not just his habit or hobby anymore. The camera isn’t just a shield for himself, he’s trying to use it as a shield for poor Grace as well. It just doesn’t work for long.
“Do you own a gun? I do. And ever since I saw those photos I sleep with it under my pillow.”
So well delivered.
I see Len Wein pop up in the review, and I immediately get distracted but also 100% more interested
Having recently seen it a month ago, how about covering the 2008 movie, Pontypool? It's action is mostly off-screen, but damn was I intrigued by it's premise… how bout' a virus… that "infects" the human language? It also has a radio drama as well, both follow the novel they're both based off, "Pontypool Changes Everything", but each of them ends differently!
I totally did not want to watch this at first because I did not think it would be interesting. But boy was I wrong!!! This is really good.
I never tired of zombies as long as the story is good.
I really liked this story. It touches serious and real topic, while also creating supernatural treat that’s VERY scary. As many pointed out in comments those zombies wiped out small tomb extremely quickly, like they had a coordinated attack or could track humans better than any animal would.
I also like the ending, because all that time spent on bigotry could’ve been spend on analysing the threat and preheating for new attacks. I’m surprised no government agent took a look into that case.
Poor Salazar though((
Good video.
I refuse to call them zombies or think of them as zombies. They will always be just "something demonic" especially the shot of them all on the hill, there was something just far more menacing and sadistic in the figures
This is exactly how a world war z adaptation shouldve been done!
Realistically, the camera roll couldn't have been submitted after the first trial b/c new evidence can't be submitted in an appeal (rather than any issue of it not being compelling enough.)
Would LOVE if you covered some horror books man
I'm so glad you're talking about this movie. Such a creative way of storytelling. Those photos are genuinely unnerving, and the documentary framing device is well acted and produced despite its lower budget. In a sea of mediocre "found footage" films, Savageland is definitely one of the better ones.
Something I haven't seen anybody mention is that the town of Hinzman is a reference to Bill Hinzman, who played the cemetery zombie in Night of the Living Dead.
…okay but what about "holy * I'm going totally insane and seeing things, I better take photos so I can figure out if I was drugged or something tomorrow."
I would recommend covering Noroi: The Curse. It's one of my favorite horror movies ever and my personal favorite found footage movie
My brother showed me this movie and man it chilled me, because I live in the area this found photography movie takes place. There were definite inaccuracies, but it's definitely a gem for what it is.
This is such a cool concept. I gotta check this out.
57,000 once lived here… now it's a ghost town.
These photos immediately make me think of the art from Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark.
this is the one movie that made me close my curtains at night for a couple days lol
I watched this last night, and I actually found it to be more tragic than anything else. It does have that sad/creepy Lake Mungo vibe to it, I hadn't realized it until Ryan made that comparison.
What I love is how these zombies are so ghoulish in detail.
They feel like they stepped out of a nightmare.
Like they appear so dreamlike and spectral.
The pitch darkness with eyes peering through the void.
I wouldnt call alex jones a "conspiracy theorist"…..since a lot of what he has said has actually happened.
I’ve been stopping your videos at the 1st minute, and going and watching these bad ass movies you have been reviewing. Thank you!
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I always imagined that they were vampires rather than zombies, the photographs which at times portrays them as haunting apparitions seem to be a nod to the myth that vampires cannot be recorded by camera.
savageland is such an easy rewatch for me. absolutely brilliant found photo artwork
This is one of those films which prove that zombies can still be made scary despite the saturation
Love this gem
"But seriously, f**k right off" now that's a response that makes me want to watch a film. 😂
Thank god Mexican gangs don't have a strange prejudice against African Americans. Bring them in I say. What's the harm?
Thank you so much for covering this film! Savageland is an awesome film!
So someone tell me, what part of this was based in reality? The images? Ghost town? Salazar himself?