Dir. Ricky Umberger | Now Streaming on Prime | Rating: 4/5

I heard from Ricky, the director of The Fear Footage Trilogy, back in July of this year to check out his latest project. I take getting asked to review independent releases really seriously, because the last thing I want to do is crush someone’s hopes and dreams. I have a lot of respect for microbudget and indie productions. It takes guts to commit to your vision and try to compete with a market as saturated as the horror genre. Luckily, Project Eerie made this super easy for me. 

Project Eerie follows in the footsteps of some of my favorite found footage heavy hitters, taking notes from both V/H/S and Paranormal Activity. This film is anthology style, which isn’t always a favorite of mine. What saves this for Project Eerie is its brevity, it doesn’t keep talking to fill the time. The runtime and pacing was perfect for what this was trying to do. 

This anthology manages to be both dread inducing and funny. The tension work is great in the first and third segments, while the second segment and the exposition of Jesse and Jacob both poke fun at the genre constraints. Parts of this genuinely creeped me out – I’m talking weird feelings in the pit of my stomach and watching the last segment through my fingers. 

For a microbudget production, it swings for the fences with its practical effects. While some feel a bit “theme park-y,” others are quite effective. With any indie release, it is the viewer’s responsibility to reasonably set their expectations on the upper limit of what is truly possible within the budget. 

I rented this to rewatch before writing my full review and I was not disappointed. Project Eerie manages to find its own footing and creative niche, in an incredibly competitive subgenre. If you’re a found footage junkie, this will definitely be up your alley. I haven’t watched the Fear Footage Trilogy just yet, but after my experience with this project, I’ve added all three to my watchlist. 

Catch my blurb in the Project Eerie Official Trailer here.

Know Before You Watch: Features death, blood.