A vlogger retreats to a cabin in the woods, but soon realises that a malevolent force is all around him.
The slow death of a subgenre!
Right… As much as I support independent and nano-budget filmmaking, I struggle when a film is made for its own sake. When scenes exist merely to extend the running time until it qualifies as a feature, there is little left for the audience to hold on to. Unfortunately, Charlie Robb and Douglas Tawn’s Loner falls into that category.
It is neither original nor especially creative. And lack of originality, I get it, there is no parthenogenesis. A lack of creativity, though, can be the root of all problems. There are only a handful of moments that genuinely resonate, and, interestingly, they all belong to the dramatic side of the story rather than the horror side. In fact, the dramatic reveal is arguably the only element that feels carefully considered. Beyond that, the narrative offers very little to sustain its mystery or tension. Shave off twenty minutes, and you may get close to the intended result.
I’ll stop there, though. Talking down to people who have dedicated years of their lives to making a film has never been my way. Completing a feature, even one that doesn’t work, is a minor miracle. Securing distribution for it is another.
The previous found-footage film I watched was Man Finds Tape (2025): https://kaygazpro.com/man-finds-tape-2025/, and I found myself expressing similar reservations – but not to that level. Then I think about David Moreau’s MadS (2024): https://kaygazpro.com/mads-2024/, an astonishing feature essentially unfolding as a ninety-minute oner, and I am reminded that this subgenre still has enormous creative potential. When filmmakers truly embrace its possibilities, the sky is the limit.
That is why Loner disappoints me. Found footage is often perceived as one of the easiest horror subgenres to produce because imperfect framing, rough camerawork, and fragmented editing can all be justified within its aesthetic. But those characteristics should never be used as excuses. They should be creative tools.
Maybe that is where the film loses me. And then there are the IMDb fake reviews. Without naming anyone, some of them make it painfully obvious who wrote them and why. That does neither the film nor independent cinema any favours.
I genuinely believe found-footage horror still has a future. But filmmakers need to treat it with far greater ambition and respect. Because audiences are gradually losing faith in the subgenre – and every uninspired entry brings us one step closer to its extinction.
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Solidarity for all the innocent lives that suffer the atrocities of war!
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