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Stars: Brittany O'Grady, E. J. Bonilla, Alanna Ubach
Director: Pedro Kos
Distributor: Utopia

“Do you smell that?”

Another feature-length film on Day Two of GASP! Horror Festival, this time: an exclusive Manchester screening of In Our Blood. Produced by Morgan Freeman and Duncan Jones, and directed by Oscar-nominated Pedro Kos, In Our Blood is the latest found footage horror ready to take the sub-genre by storm.

In Our Blood follows filmmaker Emily Wyland (Brittany O’Grady) and her cinematographer, Danny (E.J. Bonilla), produces a documentary on the difficult and sensitive reconciliation with her mother, Sam Wyland (Alanna Ubach). Sam has a history of addiction that goes to the lengths of using a youthful Emily to score the drugs herself. The situation was and is bad. When Emily and Sam reunite over a Thanksgiving meal, the awkwardness is sky high, as well as the tension when Sam is challenged on her upbringing of Emily.

Given that the documentary produced within In Our Blood is moreso centred on Sam rather than Sam and Emily as a family, Emily and Danny explore the local area within the New Mexico state, and engage with the helpers and residents within a care centre for those living/lived with addiction. Sam is seen as an inspiration by many of the residents there. Upon returning to Sam’s residence where Emily and Danny are staying, Sam has disappeared…

Following this new-focund case of a missing persons, the documentary produced by Emily and Danny has evolved into a full-on investigation over Sam’s whereabouts. This gripping journey is far from your routine, “Have you seen this person?” As Emily delves deeper into her mother’s community, she and Danny begin to uncover and engage with bizarre notions ranging from decapitated pig heads left in bathrooms, local gangs, and the underground distribution of blood bags… In Our Blood gets wild.

Presented as a documentary, this style has an unbelievable effect on the viewing experience of In Our Blood. Switching between a professional camera and an iPhone/mobile, not once does this film drop its act. We watch this film knowing that it is fiction, but its unbelievable documentarian cinematography fully engages the viewer to incredible levels. As the story and journey gets deeper and darker, the intensity and intrigue reaches fantastical levels for the viewer.

In having its main supporting character, Danny, as the cinematographer for the documentary film and, essentially, a placeholder for the viewer, In Our Blood possesses an interactive feel to it. The best documentaries are the ones where the viewer feels involved. Though a fictional film, In Our Blood, gathers plenty of success in having a real feel and ambiance to plenty of the film. Given the subject matter of the documentary within, and story events, the viewpoint of In Our Blood can be thrilling as it is intimidating.

An excellent mashup of thriller and horror, presented in a continually engaging documentary-style cinematography, In Our Blood, produces brilliant results in its existence as a thriller and its transition to a horror. As a thriller – and essentially, a mystery, too – In Our Blood is able to elevate the routine storytelling of addiction /recovery and missing persons.

By far, In Our Blood is one of the best found footage films in recent years. Even to the extent where this film could reignite an interest in this sub-genre. The quality is exceptional. Plenty of risks are taken, especially in the third act – which could taint or triumph. For the main body of In Our Blood, Pedro Kos has perfected his documentary style of filmmaking to great successes.