Reed's Point Review (2022) Worth Watching?

It's about two hapless college students investigating a disappearance in a creepy forest.

Reed's Point was directed by Dale Fabrigar (who also directed Wedding Day) and stars Julia Kelly (E-Demon), Evan Adams, Madison Ekstrand and Anthony Jensen (Aquarium Of The Dead and The Gallows Act II).

Bad Blood Never Dies.

Under the guise of writing a college newspaper article, Sarah and Alex return to the site of the crash, assisted by unnerving locals whose true motives remain unclear. Though Sarah is convinced of Kelsey’s survival, they are undecided on the cause of her disappearance, the determination of which forms the foundation of the film’s plot.

Heading into the woods, a comparison to The Blair Witch Project becomes impossible to omit. Like The Blair Witch Project, Reed's Point makes great use of the naturally unsettling woodland landscape in which it is set. It also allows the horror and unsettling tone to build slowly as plot is developed and the audience can mull over theories of the Jersey Devil/Blair Witch. Unlike The Blair Witch, Reed's Point is more upfront in its moments of horror. The film deploys some effective jump scares and employs some very creative use of special effects, making the most of an obviously very tight budget. The gore scenes are infrequent but maintain the trend of a creative “less is more” approach. Speaking of which, the film’s running time is slightly on the shorter side but is nevertheless paced to perfection.

Mostly set over a single day, the film’s general tone builds effectively as day turns to night, the tension increasing exponentially as the score descends into ominous tonal music and the visuals are plunged into the horror-standard chiaroscuro lighting.

The storyline is somewhat novel, exploiting the current folk horror trend with a uniquely American slant. The inclusion of the Jersey Devil invokes a modern American myth, placing the origin of horror in a more recent era than the Paganistic fare proffered by the subgenre thus far. Whereas other folk horror entries are fairly upfront about whether the horrors are supernatural or manmade, Reed’s Point's ambiguity maintains the audience’s engagement throughout.

Reed's Point is an exercise in stretching a meagre budget as far as possible. Unfortunately, the budget isn’t the only thing that’s stretched. Fortunately for Reed's Point, inexperienced acting and low budgets are often readily embraced by the horror community, especially if they are compensated for with tone and storyline. Reed's Point very nearly manages to deliver this.