Hunting Matthew Nichols joins the list of found footage 2.0 movies that work for the most part.  Markian Tarasiuk directs, co-writes, and stars in a faux documentary about two missing teens on a remote island just north of Vancouver, Canada. We follow aspiring documentarian Miranda MacDougall as she recounts the disappearance of her older brother and his friend on Halloween night, 2001 under mysterious circumstances. Built from “interviews”, the search for truth, and ultimately MacDougall‘s need to find closure with a family tragedy, we are treated to an inventive found footage horror pic.

The film starts as we meet MacDougall in first person interview. Hailing from a small town of 20,000 she has become a filmmaker. Haunted by the past, she decides to train her camera on the mysterious disappearance of her brother Matthew and his best friend. In typical and very believable fashion, the “documentary” kicks off with the mystery. We learn about the last known whereabouts of Matthew from neighbors, friends, and townsfolk. We trace their actions via animated maps. Community leaders share their passive recollections of the tragedy and devolve into sharing the possibility that Matthew and his friend might have been searching for the local legend similar to the Blair Witch movie. This in itself, is a classy nod to the originator of the sub-genre. Tarasiuk meticulously recreates the look, rhythm, and feel of an investigative documentary to believable effect. Among the collection of third person interviews we meet the detective portrayed by Christine Willes who lead the search for Matthew and his friend years ago. The regret that she exudes having not solved the case is remarkably authentic.

As MacDougall meets with dead end after dead end, the film switches focus from investigation of the past to recording of the present. We learn that Matthew was mixed up in the occult. We learn that he may have been chasing things he ought not. A missing tape is discovered. We learn of Matthew’s darker side and MacDougall‘s filmmaker becomes more and more obsessed with connection and closure.

Hunting Matthew Nichols respectfully and overtly stands on the shoulders of The Blair Witch Project with the aim to celebrate the macabre joy of the modern legend. From what I took out of it, Tarasiuk aims to resurrect the boogeyman hidden in the darkness with the immediacy of the digital age. What a tantalizing brass ring to reach for? He isn’t entirely successful in ratcheting the horror of the unknown up to a fever pitch but that is an, admittedly, difficult peak to conquer in this day and age.

End result, Hunting Matthew Nichols is worth the watch for its inventive narrative and layered mystery. Oliver and Tarasiuk craft a believable real-world story that frames well in the quasi-doc/found-footage wheelhouse even if it never fully becomes chillingly believable.