Strawstalker

NOW ON TUBI! For a feed that will eat you alive, give some views to the supremely sinister found footage film Strawstalker, written and directed by George Henry Horton. It’s time for another live stream with one of the hottest influencers in Los Angeles: six-figure Sandy (Vince Ranola) himself, who has an exclusive drop of some acquired footage never seen online before. It is the last known footage of Haley (Branika Scott) and Henry (George Henry Horton), a popular influencer couple that recently moved to Los Angeles from Texas. Sandy’s tenuous connection to the couple, as well as how he got the footage, is immediately roasted on the comments feed, with many yakking away about Sandy’s broke-a*s cringe self. Sandy lets his hostile audience know that he has only added a musical score to the footage, which he will be watching for the first time with the viewers (the reason was that he was so high when he did it, he can’t remember what he saw).

Haley and Henry cautiously search their new home as unsettling events escalate in Strawstalker.

“It is the last known footage of Haley and Henry, a popular influencer couple that recently moved to Los Angeles from Texas.”

First up is the video from the realtor, Eleanor (Emily Rafala), showing off a gorgeous rental with a pool and tiki bar that screams Southern California. It is tucked in the overlooked gated community of Oak Bridge, located in the valley, with many of the houses there owned by a handful of families for generations. The loud couple immediately makes themselves at home on their posts online, as their new neighbors look on quietly. Out by the pool, which Henry insists on jumping nude into, is a straw-filled scarecrow. It is creepy and makes no sense in the poolside setting. The two decide what they need is a party, and invite any of their half a million online followers to show up. As Henry films Haley getting everything ready for the party, he finds behind the pool a pile of dead crows on some straw…

I remember the hundreds of folks at the Dobie in Austin standing in line for an advance screening of The Blair Witch Project (I didn’t get it, but I did breakdance in order to win a t-shirt). No one waiting had any reservations about the found footage format the film was made in; it was, in fact, the opposite. Many looked forward to handheld cameras and no budget, because the word was that it was a LOT scarier. The feeling of being locked inside the dread with the characters was a whole lot different than sitting on the outside, waiting for them to die. With the fake documentary style, the possibilities of audience immersion into some truly ghastly haunts were endless, both then and now. That is what keeps going through my mind while watching Strawstalker, a great movie that shows the found footage format is back with a vengeance.