The Outwaters 2023

The film commences with the chilling audio of a distressed 9-1-1 call paired with visuals that indicate a troubling fact: a group of friends, consisting of Robbie Banfitch, Angela Basolis, Scott Schamell, and Michelle May, has been unaccounted for since 2017. A title card cryptically reveals that the footage we are about to witness was meticulously recovered from three memory cards found within the desolate expanses of the Mojave Desert.

At the heart of this film is Robbie, an ambitious filmmaker based in Los Angeles, who initiates plans to shoot a music video for his friend Michelle. To assist him, he enlists his brother Scott and their lively friend Angela. As preparations for this adventurous expedition begin, Robbie juggles unique moments: celebrating Scott’s birthday, surprising their mother with a heartfelt visit, indulging in spirited celebrations with Angela, and engaging in a profound conversation with Michelle about the sorrow surrounding the death of her mother. Interspersed throughout the narrative are gripping visual snippets of two distinct earthquakes, captured from the safety of Robbie’s apartment.

As the four friends gather their gear, they embark on an enthralling journey that takes them deep into the desert. Their first night is spent at a serene lake, but this tranquility is short-lived. The following day, they press on, only to find their path obstructed by a pack of wild donkeys. Eventually, they reach their destination—an eerie hillside close to a parched lakebed—where they hurriedly set up camp. However, their night is soon disturbed by ominous booming sounds accompanied by frantic animal calls that seem to draw nearer, igniting a sense of dread. In response to these strange occurrences, Robbie and Scott venture outside their tent, though they find no immediate answers. Robbie continues alone, drawn by a flickering light along a hillside trail that beckons him.

The next morning, while discussing the bizarre events from their sleepless night, the group decides to film the music video. During a recess, Robbie and Michelle take the initiative to explore the area where Robbie previously spotted the light, capturing peculiar high-pitched noises emanating from a nearby hole, which hints at something lurking beneath the ground. Robbie is bewildered as his camera battery miraculously remains charged throughout their time there. In a harrowing twist, Robbie discovers an axe ominously perched atop a hill. The crew proceeds to the lakebed to wrap up the filming, yet their once organized efforts are drowned out by the disturbing noises heard earlier from the hole. As night falls, the eerie sounds return, and to his horror, Robbie encounters a nude man wielding the axe on a hill. A panic-stricken chase ensues, with the man assaulting Robbie off-screen, leaving him bloodied and dazed when he makes his way back to camp, where he discovers chaos as the women are in a frenzy and Scott is oblivious in slumber.

In a sudden escalation of terror, we see Robbie sprinting through the desert, pursued by the screams of his terrified friends. When he finds Angela and Scott, both drenched in blood, Robbie’s escape leads him into hiding within a modest ravine until dawn breaks. Emerging, naked and disoriented, he begins aimlessly wandering through the desert, soon realizing that the once serene environment is now overtaken by ghastly, clamoring, worm-like creatures that scream in unison. That night, he nervously returns to the campsite only to face a gruesome scene: both tents are dripping with viscera, and a sight that confirms his worst fears—what seems to be Michelle’s lifeless body. As he alights into a night filled with hair-raising close encounters, he finds himself drawn into a pool of bright red liquid, vomiting blood as he extricates an unidentifiable object from his foot.

Robbie’s confrontation with the pack of donkeys leads him to a surreal spectacle: an earlier version of himself and his friends navigating the desert at their journey’s inception. He then finds a blood-soaked Michelle racing across the lakebed, prompting a frantic chase. Soon after, he sees Scott and Angela unharmed at camp, further blurring the lines of reality. Transitioning through disorienting encounters, Robbie finds himself at his mother’s house and unexpectedly on an airplane’s wing, catching a glimpse of Scott within.

Amidst the darkness of the desert, Robbie stumbles upon a gigantic creature that scrutinizes him, seemingly calling for similar monsters from the shadows. Frantic, he escapes and reunites with Angela at the campsite, only for both to be violently ambushed by the worm-like entities. He experiences a bizarre transportation back to the red liquid, where a dizzying array of bright lights engulfs him before he lands back in the desolate landscape. There, he is confronted with a gas mask and an old sign marking a government-restricted area, leading to an unearthly encounter with an assailant who bears an uncanny resemblance to him. The following day unveils a horrifying find: the decaying heads of his friends gruesomely displayed on pikes, alongside the relic of a large animal’s tooth lying ominously on the ground. In a shocking final act of desperation, Robbie resorts to a gruesome self-mutilation as he reaches toward the sun, culminating a chilling tale of horror and existential dread.