“Hunting Matthew Nichols” officially arrives in theaters on April 10, but attendees of Monday night’s mystery movie event—Scream Unseen at AMC Theatres—were treated to the film early. The found-footage mockumentary, co-written and directed by Markian Tarasiuk, is an obvious love letter to “The Blair Witch Project.” It leans into the comparison early, even referencing the 1999 classic in relation to its own central mystery. But it brings those influences into the latest take on the subgenre, which marries “found footage” with the true-crime documentary format.
“Hunting Matthew Nichols” follows documentary filmmaker Tara Nichols (Miranda MacDougall, “When Calls the Heart”) as she documents her investigation into the vanishing of her brother and his best friend, two decades after they went missing on Halloween night. Accompanied by Tarasiuk, who plays himself as the documentary’s director, and cameraman Ryan Alexander McDonald, who also plays himself, she returns to Vancouver, British Columbia, to interview those closest to the case, hoping to find answers, her brother, or at the very least, some semblance of peace.
While the film’s 90-minute runtime leans into a deliberate slow burn, the patience required is a necessary investment for the payoff in the final act. Everything is building up to that moment, and ultimately, it wouldn’t be as effective if we didn’t get to see Tara go through her journey and witness the toll it takes on her. Unfortunately, that comes at the cost of nearly all the horror being contained in the film’s final moments.
The climax descends into familiar territory, channeling the frantic, handheld dread of its predecessor, but it’s injected with enough originality to stand on its own. By blending documentary footage with previously unrevealed found-footage elements, it offers the audience answers to some of the questions the film has been chasing up until that point.
Ultimately, “Hunting Matthew Nichols” succeeds by being exactly what it sets out to be: a reverent, well-crafted expansion of the foundation laid nearly three decades prior. While it may not deviate from the current found-footage playbook, the payoff is genuine. For fans of “The Blair Witch Project” or those enjoying the current found-footage formula, it’s a journey well worth taking.
