R orschach (USA, 2015)

While found-footage isn’t my favourite flavour of horror, and it’s too often a crutch for cheap film-making, I’ve seen enough creative uses of the format to be more open-minded about it. Hell, Butterfly Kisses, from 2022’s October Horror Movie Challenge, was one of the best things I saw that year. So when I saw a few positive mentions of Rorschach online, and noticed it was available on YouTube, I decided to give it a go.

It takes an impressive degree of self-confidence to proclaim your low-budget production “the scariest film online”, even if you undercut that claim with a question mark. And let’s be clear: Rorschach is not the scariest film online. It’s not even the scariest film I’ve seen this week. But is it still worth seeing? Maybe.

Rorschach is streaming on YouTube.

Synopsis

Rorschach opens with the warning, “Much of what follows defies a coherent or consistent narrative”. More films could do with this.

Ross and Ricky, two filmmakers, visit the home of single-mother Jamy and her young daughter, Ashlynn. Weird things have been happening in the house, which is probably for the best. This might be a short film otherwise.

Most of the weirdness can easily be dismissed, like tapping noises, bad smells, and items going missing. Jamy and Ashlynn have heard an androgynous voice singing in the vents, however, which is a bit more unusual. Ashlynn believes the house might be haunted by her grandmother, who died there recently.

The filmmakers set up cameras, explaining that they are there to document phenomena but don’t really know enough about parapsychology to perform an actual investigation. They check basic stuff like EM levels, but this seems redundant once they find Patrick, the creepy doll who lives in grandma’s old bedroom. It just has to be the doll, right?

The rest of the film plays out much as you might expect. There is a steady escalation in spookiness, with a few events that are tricky to dismiss, but it’s all stuff you’ve seen before. Then again, do you really watch films like Rorschach to be challenged or surprised? This stuff is like comfort food for horror fans.

General Thoughts

Even though it was made 15 years later, you can very much feel the influence of The Blair Witch Project here. The dialogue appears unscripted and the characters all share their names with the actors playing them. There is a similar lack of incidental music, barring a couple of stings, although its absence works better here. And most of all, the spooky stuff in this film is just people wandering around with cameras, investigating strange noises. There are almost no visual effects.

One disadvantage of the version on YouTube is that the resolution is poor. There is a key scene centred on a subtle movement caught on camera, like a fuzzy shape moving across the room, but it is almost impossible to discern here. The investigators play it back a few times and think I eventually saw something, but I still wonder if this was just a game the filmmakers were playing with audience perceptions, like, well, some Rorschach test.

One of my favourite moments comes when Jamy explains how financially tied she is to the house. I’ve had too many discussions with people who insist that they would flee their home at the first sign of a ghost. The harsh reality, however, is that many of us just wouldn’t be able to afford to up and move, even if there was blood running down the walls. It’s nice to see a haunted house film address this.

Verdict

There is really nothing original in Rorschach. It’s about as by-the-numbers as a film of its type can be. That said, the execution is effective enough that I never felt bored. The characters are lightly developed, but they serve their purpose. And while the pace is slow, even for a 75-minute film, it still builds tension towards the end.

Mostly, I liked the ambiguity of the situation. It seems pretty incontrovertible that there is something ghostly going on. The reason is never pinned down, however, and we’re left with as many questions as we started with. A more straightforward resolution might have been the undoing of this film.

Honestly, for a zero-budget production that was clearly just shot in someone’s house, it’s better than a lot of more professional horror films. The acting is decent, and I had no problem buying into the premise. I just wish the story had managed to surprise me, even once.

I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see Rorschach, especially if you’ve seen other films of its ilk. But if you have an hour or so to kill and like films about ghost hunters, there are certainly worse ways to spend your time.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.