A Unique Found Footage Frightfest

Who said found footage horror movies are dead? Pun intended – and they’re thriving. Last year’s LOLA was a masterpiece, though it wasn’t exactly a frightfest like, say, Mind Body Spirit, which drops on digital platforms this week. If the title evokes yoga vibes, that’s partly the point. Yes, this movie hits a lot of notes: horror, found footage, yoga, supernatural and more. Hey, yoga once helped Giancarlo Esposito bring his iconic Breaking Bad character to life, but a fictional movie like Mind Body Spirit warns that, combined with the wrong elements, such practices can run haywire.

Directors Alex Henes and Matthew Merenda prove that the possibilities for this fun little subgenre of cinema are seemingly endless. It’s no surprise that Welcome Villain Films is the brand behind this horror entry’s release, the same studio that released the hard-to-watch movie Beaten to Death and the terrifying film Malum not too long ago.

Mind Body Spirit Is an Influencer Horror Film

Mind Body Spirit (2023)

3.5/5

Release Date May 7, 2024

Director Alex Henes , Matthew Merenda

Cast Sarah J. Bartholomew , Madi Bready , KJ Flahive , Anna Knigge , Kristi Noory

Runtime 1h 25m

Main Genre Horror

Studio(s) Art Brut Films , Welcome Villain Films

Pros

• Mind Body Spirit presents a unique premise for the found footage subgenre.
• Sarah J. Bartholomew gives a terrific performance.
• The film features relatable family themes and trendy “influencer” story beats.

Cons

• There are predictable plot points throughout Mind Body Spirit.
• Certain camerawork choices in the film take us out of the “found footage” feel.

It’s always a hoot to hear that certain celebrities got their start not from a “rags to riches” story but that the riches were already in order. Ah yes, that explains why certain TikTok and Instagram celebs were able to drop everything and head into a career on social media without the worries of a day job, etc. With Anya (a dynamite Sarah J. Bartholomew), instead of dolla-dolla-bills to back her dream, it’s a house inherited from her estranged and now-deceased grandmother.

What to do with the space? Well, like the rest of us aging adults, Anya is conveniently at a crossroads in her career trajectory. She decides to start filming herself as she embarks on a spiritual journey amidst her new job description: yoga influencer. Of course, that’s the new mindset for a budding adult-like Anya, given these digital “love your body” times we live in.

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The “spiritual journey” is where clichés mostly fall by the wayside, fortunately, because with Anya, it comes in the form of a ritualistic practice she attempts to tackle after discovering some hidden-away books in her grandma’s mysterious home. Why not, right? Anya is clearly game, as is any influencer itching for any opportunity to garner more clicks than the YouTuber’s channel next to them, and she even tries to introduce her findings to a family friend and fellow fitness guru, Kenzi (Madi Bready).

The kicker? Kenzi’s own channel is wildly popular – as evidenced by the high-quality promotional videos the directors of Mind Body Spirit use to splice up the found footage clips of Anya – and she becomes more than weirded out when she visits Anya and discovers Anya’s jarring enthusiasm for her grandma’s lost treasures. So she bails, leaving Anya all alone inside this ever-so-creepy house of hers.

The Troubled Family Dynamics of Mind Body Spirit

Someone else who’s not exactly “game” for Anya’s newfound passion to be live-streamed for the masses: her mom, Lenka (Anna Knigge), who had grown apart from Anya’s grandmother when she was still alive. Now, all that’s left are the books that Anya’s consuming in front of her laptop’s webcam, and her long-distance mom, who can only communicate via FaceTime, is worried sick. The troubled mother-daughter-grandma dynamic is just one highlight of this supernatural frightfest, as it keeps the story grounded in relatable “messy family” tropes that might give certain millennials PTSD when watching. Just seeing the look in Lenka’s eyes through FaceTime when Anya gets all excited about her grandmother’s archives is telling enough that Lenka knows something sinister that she’s not exactly sharing with us, especially Anya. Oof.

The found footage approach keeps us guessing at times, though the technique of the camera panning side-to-side sometimes takes us out of it, as if the image is then blatantly being manipulated by real-world filmmakers. But perhaps that’s on purpose, in that the spirits that have awoken inside Anya’s new home are taking action with her webcam. Of course, cinephiles will weigh in at some point on the various forums out there on this stylistic choice.

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Mind Body Spirit can also fall victim to predictable story tropes, even with certain shock-value moments, in that we all know where this story is headed (in general, at least), especially after Anya invites Kenzi back for an unexpected second visit. Why try to rekindle after they butted heads the first time around about Anya’s strange obsession with her new spiritual quest? You’ll see why. Let’s just say that “mind, body, and spirit” may or may not be consumed here in some form or another. It’s a contained feel, given the sole location of the film, yet a wild ride that will leave you wincing and shielding your eyes more often than not. From Welcome Villain Films, Mind Body Spirit is now available on digital platforms.

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