Mean Spirited (2022)Youtuber Found Footage’s buzz harshed by incessant Bro Chatter (Festival Review)

Horror fans are accustomed to certain tropes, and one of those is that any time a group of young people head off on a trip it is going to go wrong. From The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Evil Dead to Wrong Turn to The Cabin in the Woods, this trope of a journey (common across horror sub-genres) towards some sort of doom raises expectations. Look out for a harbinger, initial hints that something is weird, further hints that suggest leaving would be wise, escalation and everything going batshit crazy for either a last-minute escape or a plummet into a grisly demise.

Mean Spirited utilises these tropes with some interesting twists. The group in question here centre around YouTuber Andy (Will Madden) whose channel, The Amazing Andy, provides the storytelling device. The proverbial cabin is a remote swanky house owned by Andy’s old school friend Bryce (Jeff Ryan, who also co-writes and directs), who has become a Hollywood star. The harbinger is a bloody postcard stuck on Andy’s van partway to the house, and the early hints include a masked figure and a locked room, both of which you know are coming back later. It’s clear that something will go wrong, the question is what sort of something?

Or perhaps the question is do we care? This type of film often features a somewhat obnoxious group of characters, and in this case, we have not so much ‘bros’, as might be the case with Noughties horror, as ‘dudes’. Andy is accompanied by filming partners Tom (Daniel Rashid) and Joey (Maria Decotis), as well as Tom’s girlfriend Nikki (Michelle Veintimilla) and another old friend Dew (Will Martin). Everyone refers to each other as ‘dude’ and everyone has annoying character traits. Andy treats those around him like employees; Bryce’s patience only wears out when a scene needs more energy; Tom whines and wears very silly-looking shoes; Joey is underdeveloped; Nikki is the sensible one; Dew is the gross bro asshole. The regrets, old arguments and recriminations that emerge over the course of this long weekend feel tired because they never go anywhere, even though a central tension is returned to repeatedly, only to be sapped of dramatic tension by that very repetition.

Despite these problems, Mean Spirited has potential and might well have worked were it more stylistically immersive. The location and production design are effective, as the house allows for many evocative spaces including a gorgeous patio. Production designer Kelsey Hannah Walsh adorns the various areas effectively, especially a derelict hotel that looks as though it emptied very suddenly. Suggestive decorations and furniture ensure that Bryce’s home looks lived-in though able to receive guests, while also being the site of something otherworldly. This otherworldly presence seeps into the film gradually, with simple but effective indications that something is changing.

The problem here is the delivery because Ryan delivers the entire film through the narrative device of found footage. It is an easy device to knock, precisely because it can so easily go wrong. The fundamental issue of found footage is providing the motivation for people to keep filming. The best examples, like The Blair Witch Project, [REC] and Paranormal Activity, provide this reason organically within the story. Mean Spirited, unfortunately, does not convince, not because of the extensive filming, but the editing. Some of the footage is Andy’s completed and uploaded video, other parts are raw footage. While the film’s conclusion provides an explanation for this, it is too little too late when the viewer has spent a good chunk of the film wondering about the footage being edited and uploaded. The attention to the characters filming everything but only enough to keep the viewer guessing, makes the pacing poor and the film feel overlong, which is impressive seeing as it is only 96 minutes.

Arguably, Mean Spirited might be saying something about influencer culture where being on brand is essential. The trouble is it spends too much time drawing attention to this aspect, with characters filming themselves even to the extent of filming the screen on which footage from earlier is displayed. Add this to the repetitious dialogue (the aforementioned ‘dude’ as well as ‘bitch’) and the film undermines its laughs with being too knowing. The found footage device undermines the scares because had this been delivered straight, more menacing lighting, angles and sound could have been utilised. As a result, rather than fear or amusement, the overall feeling of this film comes down to irritation.

MEAN SPIRITED

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