Written and directed by Robbie Banfitch, The Outwaters takes viewers off the beaten path and into their own nightmares. The film plays out over three memory cards found in a sun-drenched section of the Mojave Desert. The footage within is that of a foursome, who set out to make a music video while camping, led by a charismatic LA filmmaker. Their trip starts out uneventful, though their peace is occasionally disrupted by unexplained sounds, vibrations, and unnatural animal behavior. Then one night everything changes, sending the foursome on a mind-bending trip through terror.

For in-depth thoughts on The Outwaters, please see my colleague Devin McGrath-Conwell’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

The Outwaters debuts on Blu-Ray with an incredibly solid 1080p video presentation that is as strong as you could ask for from a found footage movie. By nature of the narrative, the visual spectrum is limited, and the film actually uses what you cannot see to provide a plethora of unsettling developments. The handheld nature of the capture is represented well with some of the expected blockiness you would get from this source. The high definition master delivers exactly what it is supposed to, and the encode reveals nearly nothing in the way of unintended compression artifacts or macroblocking.

The image is clean with the dusty color palette resolving well, even if the film is not focused on delivering eye-popping hues. The experience provides the occasional splashes of bold colors within the costumes and gory makeup effects. When things are more calm, some of the subjects are captured in a way that provides nice textural details. Highlights are well balanced with no instances of blooming to be found. The black levels also hold up quite well with not much in the way of crush or banding under the extreme circumstances. The benefits of high definition may not be obvious to everyone, but watching this as close to the original source is a riveting experience.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray provides a great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track along with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track of the Dolby Stereo Mix and the Original Stereo Mix, all of which brings this movie to life in spectacular fashion. While the budget on this one might be modest, there is an emphasis on the importance of the soundscape to create the nightmare fuel of this journey. The source can be intentionally raggedy such as the wind tunnels the characters find themselves in causing distortion and other notable moments of chaos. This is all part of the experience, though, as you begin to buy into the reality that this footage has indeed been found.

Dialogue is subject to the restraints of the original capture, and it is often intentionally obscured by competing sounds. This is not a movie that digs deep in the low end, but the environmental sounds of the world engage the speakers in narratively effective ways. When the characters are roaming around the desert, there are plentiful ambient details that flesh out the setting. A handful of sound effects engage the low end in a way that provides some nice texture to the proceedings. This is a well-rounded audio presentation for fans. This release provides English SDH subtitles.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Detectives Stacey and Knocko, Director Robbie Banfitch and Actor Scott Schamell provide a fun and unique commentary track in which the detectives bring an outsider perspective to various unsettling elements from the film while the creatives pepper in details about the production, getting help from friends and family, elements from the film that were most difficult to execute and more. The conversation can become less focused on the movie quite a bit, but it is never boring.

Prequel Short Film – Card Zero: A 35-minute short film is provided here set before the events of the film which gives you some more context to the friend group and allows for a nice development of a love story.

Epilogue Short Film – File VL-624: A 21-minute short film is provided which pulls together some “restored” footage from all four cards which were originally not able to be pulled off the cards. This is another good companion piece to the main feature.

Trailers: This disc provides the Theatrical Teaser Trailer (1:38), the Theatrical Trailer (2:04) and the Companion Shorts Trailer (1:33). There are also trailer spots entitled “Hellmouth” (0:52), “Intensely Freaky” (0:32), “Let Chaos Take You” (0:17) and “Swoony” (0:52).

Character Spots: This provides spots for Ange (0:43), Michelle (0:46), Robbie (0:48) and Scott (0:45).

“All The Pretty Little Horses” Michelle August In Memoriam Music Video: A nearly five-minute in-universe music video is provided here following Michelle’s passing.

Booklet: This release comes with a bound booklet featuring writing from Robbie Zagorae, Austin Jaye, Lex Briscuso, Ari Drew, Mary Beth McAndrews, Meagan Navarro and Scott Zagorae.

Final Thoughts

The Outwaters is a very intense and unyielding experience which proves to be one of the more effective utilizations of found footage horror that we have seen. The film establishes the character dynamics well in a believable enough manner that makes you care about what happens to them as the story progresses. The descent into chaos is an overwhelming development which brings in elements of cosmic and body horror that will linger in your mind long after the move has finished. The film will not appeal to all, but those who love a grotesque odyssey should get a kick out of this. ETR Media and Vinegar Syndrome have released a Blu-Ray featuring a strong A/V presentation and a fun array of special features. Horror fans should be sure to add this to the collection. Recommended

The Outwaters is currently available to purchase on Standard Edition Blu-Ray or with a Limited Edition Slipcover exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: ETR Media and Vinegar Syndrome have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.