A Cold Grave is a spin-off of Forest Of Death, firmly focusing on a side character from that movie. Brendan Rudnicki returns as director and co-writer. Kellan Rudnicki is once again a co-writer, and the two have teamed up with Ciara Wojtala to round out the writing team. Rudnicki and his DBS Studios have cranked out a ton of found footage titles. So is this more of the same from the filmmaking team, or have they honed their skills to be able to deliver the genuine scares?
Roger (Benjamin L. Newmark reprising the role) sets off into the forest depths to find his sister Kaylee (Tatum Bates). She ventured out with her boyfriend and other friends for a getaway, but something went wrong. As the siblings grow up with these woods as their backyard, Roger knows she could not have gotten lost. This leads him to believe that the legends of the forest being haunted must be true. Roger follows the video evidence left behind by Kaylee in hopes of finding her alive, as no body has been found. But the further he goes into the woods, the more Roger experiences strange sightings, spooky sounds, and hauntings similar to what befell his sister.
A Cold Grave gives off serious Blair Witch vibes. Mind you, not The Blair Witch Project but the 2016 sequel directed by the hack Adam Wingard. Based on video evidence, a person sets out to find their sibling in the woods. Once in the same location, days and nights seemingly repeat, or seemingly never end? But Wingard’s feature is one of the worst found footage titles ever made and is a pale, unnecessary retread of the original. Here, DBS Studios has released a highly atmospheric and intense flick. There’s a desperation to Roger’s plight that is felt after everything is set up and the eerie happenings begin.
“…sets off into the forest depths to find his sister …”
Admittedly, some sequences do fall into the trap a lot of found footage films get caught in. Namely, there are long stretches where very little seems to be happening. The picture is only 78 minutes long, and even that feels a bit too long. It may be because all of Newmark’s dialogue was improvised. It could be due to the sheer glut of found footage offerings out there. No matter the cause, there are only so many times viewers can watch Roger shine a light down a path, and just a tree branch moves.
Additionally, A Cold Grave intercuts Roger’s search for his sister with the footage Kaylee shot. The edits are too clean to belong to a found footage film. Yes, a message at the very beginning states the video has been cleaned up and the audio messed with to isolate important parts. But this begs the question: who found his and her video and spliced it together? It derails the presentation and hurts the atmosphere at times.
But when the movie is scary, it is terrifying. Rudnicki knows that what’s unseen can be more frightening than showing the creature/monster/etc. Yes, some shots are repetitive, but the director still wrings out several creepy moments. He is helped significantly by Newmark’s dedication to his role. The actor’s love for his sister is never in question. When time warps, he sells the character’s confusion and hopelessness well.
A Cold Grave does not reinvent the found footage wheel. While often compelling and scary, it does hit some of the same failings that plague many such an offering. Still, Rudnicki creates a palpable sense of dread, and Newmark is excellent as the only character on screen for much of the runtime.
"…a highly atmospheric and intense..."
