It’s been interesting over the years to note how “found footage” has infiltrated so many different types of media. To a degree, it was already there with ghost hunter shows, but with the growth of survialist television shows and monster hunting shows you saw more and more of the techniques of found footage and mockumentaries employed – first-person view, speaking directly to the camera, and the viewer as witness to the unfolding events. It seems natural then that films started to employee those tricks right back.
It is a circle completed.
Now we have a lot of mockumentaries that fill the found footage niche, portraying themselves as if they are done by streamers, influencers, or independent shows. It’s interesting because it pushes aside the question of WHY someone is filming, makes things immediate, and when done well draws you in. That’s the success of the television programs like this. You feel you are a part of the proceedings, if just as a witness to them. With HIMALAYA we have an investigation into whether or not a mysterious sighting of a mythical beast was real or not in the Himalayas.
We enter the film as viewers of a paranormal broadcast investigating the case of a supposed sighting of a Yeti. We see footage of a scientist driving and something strange crosses his path in the snow. This is the core evidence that has brought the program there to investigate. The plan is that the scientist will head out to an area where it’s said that this creature has been seen to see what he can find while the host remains at a home base with the man’s wife and a scientific skeptic. Accompanying the man on his trek to find the Yeti is a tech professional that is running the many cameras. As they investigate a cave the man finds bones an animal has left behind and the dead bodies of people who had come before him. The man finds himself trapped in the cave and needing to find a way to get out before he succumbs to the cold. The host, wife, and other two can only watch in horror and try to support the man as he searches for an exit and answers about the beast. The man begins to see and hear things the others do not though and the further from hope he gets the closer to the truth of the beast he is.
I give them credit that they put together a very well made film. It doesn’t look it needed a high budget but doesn’t feel cheap. It keeps the theme and is true to it. It takes things seriously. It even introduces tech in the form of cameras that don’t need an operator to capture the action. The performances are well done and the film doesn’t feel too long or too thin. By cutting back and forth between talking heads and the investigation it keeps you invested in the mystery that is unfolding.
The biggest problem I had with the film was that it just didn’t go anywhere. It brings in a lot of elements at the end and they don’t necessarily go together. It’s an earnest effort, but it didn’t work for me. I will say that I appreciate that they went for a more thoughtful approach to thing rather than blood and guts. There’s a thoughtfulness to the film that’s rare in movies like this. There’s a lot to admire here, one of those things being that the film is its own thing.
While I didn’t vibe with the movie, you may. It’s a thoughtful film full of mystery and it’s well-made. Your milage with how you like it may depend on what you want out of it.
2.75 out of 5
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 