REPORTAGE NOVEMBER is better than most found footage movies out there. This is because it blends found footage elements with a true crime docuseries feel to fill in the trickier gaps. The result is surprisingly entertaining and suspenseful. Gone are the questions like, “Why are they still filming?” and “Why did they do that?”. Instead, Carl Sundström directs a script co-written by himself and Nathaniel P. Erlandsson that moves at a brisk pace and is consistently entertaining.

Told in interview style we meet Yasmin (Isabel Camacho) and Linn (Signe Elvin-Nowak), survivors of an ill-fated investigation of a disappearance. In the found footage we meet Joakim (Cristian Åsvik) and producer Ola (Jonas Lundström). The four have been hired to create a documentary that investigates the mysterious disappearance and murder of a woman and her stroller-bound toddler in a rather dense patch of forest. Their tactic is to first travel to the town where the crime occurred and to interview any who might have known the victims. Right off the bat, the townsfolk are shady. Still, The victim’s husband is eager to see the mystery solved. The documentary team decides to retrace the steps of the victim from the location where the body was found to the last location she was seen. The idea is that they might gain deeper insight as to what might have actually happened.

We know things don’t go well because the present-day interviews convey as much. Yasmin, Linn, Joakim, and Ola, tromp off into the forest. Still, something is not right. Ola begins acting as shady as the townsfolk. Joakim picks up strange noises on his sound equipment that are inaudible to the naked ear. It becomes clear that something is in the forest. But what?

REPORTAGE NOVEMBER works for a number of reasons. The genius mix of the found footage tropes and true crime trappings allows each genre to volley to the other when things begin to push credulity. The script laid out by Erlandsson and Sundström never demands too much suspension of disbelief. Aside from a moment when the characters in the film are barricading themselves into a safe spot only to turn around and dismiss a gaping hole in a wall as any danger, there was never a minute that had me raising an eyebrow. Too, credit should be given to the four intrepid actors that Camacho, Elvin-Nowak, Åsvik, and Lundström who deliver good performances despite the conditions.

Where Erlandsson and Sundström‘s script delivers a left hook is in how society treats those who survive the ordeal. Victim blaming and ridicule follow those who were shameful enough to survive a few nights in the woods. Yes, we get an idea of what happened, there are no broad grey areas of the film that are excused to elevated horror. Things are pretty clear. With that said REPORTAGE NOVEMBER gets under your skin with a hilly mix of monsters, mystery, and horror.

7 Out Of 10