"Cruel: The Cross Village Encounter" (2024) Brings Found Footage Fright to the Woods

The fandom surrounding found footage horror movies set in the woods is deeply entrenched in the fear of the unknown. These films often exploit our innate fear of isolation, darkness, and the unseen, creating an atmosphere of suspense that grips viewers from start to finish. The remote woodland settings enhance the sense of vulnerability, as characters are often depicted as lost or stranded in unfamiliar terrain, stalked by unseen entities or malevolent forces. Fans of this sub-genre are drawn to the immersive, raw quality of found footage filmmaking, which lends a gritty realism to the supernatural or monstrous encounters that unfold amidst the trees. The appeal lies in the adrenaline rush of being plunged into a world where every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig could signal impending doom, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats and fueling their fascination with the macabre.

“Cruel: The Cross Village Encounter” from Terror Films Releasing is the newest forrest fueled found footage horror movie to make us hear at Macabre Daily to fear enjoying an exploratory stroll through nature. This movie stars Laura Reyes, Maddie Reardon, CJ Patterson, and Ali Issa. It was written and directed by Victor Gabriel. The synopsis for the movie is as follows:

“The film follows the case of a young couple who were allegedly attacked by the Michigan Dog Man, and the crew who interviewed everyone involved. Inevitably the gang travels across the state from Detroit to Cross Village to find out what exactly happened.”

 This movie immerses the viewers into a chilling tale of terror by using a fresh take on an old urban legend with its captivating story. Most movies out there use a cookie-cutter approach when it comes to representing an urban legend (especially with a creature attached), but this movie finds a way to carve its path that glues you to your seat for the entire run time. It also is captivating by utilizing the found footage format to deliver an authentic and harrowing experience by taking the old format of camcorder footage and making you feel that you are right there among the potentially doomed main characters, with graceful transitions and well-framed shots every moment someone is on screen.

It very much takes advantage of the setting against a backdrop of dense, foreboding forests by capturing the raw essence of isolation and fear as a group of friends venture deep into the wilderness with the rich forest area that the filmmakers choose to spend the bulk of the movie in. Through the lens of their cameras, audiences are thrust into a world of suspense and uncertainty, where every rustle of leaves and distant sounds becomes a source of dread every time the camera goes off the norm of steady framed shots.

The cinematography effectively utilizes shaky camera techniques as well to heighten tension, creating a sense of immediacy and claustrophobia that grips viewers from start to finish. This becomes even more effective in the final climax of the third act when all is revealed. It is a typical strategy for most found-footage horror movies, but this movie tends to use a bit of grace when it comes to how they shoot each scene. All this of course is very impressive once you know that the original budget for this movie was only $100.

While this movie surprisingly excels in creating an atmosphere of unease, its strength lies in its ability to gradually escalate the sense of dread and paranoia while the story progresses when each main character starts to experience the evil that the woods provide and they become increasingly lost or disoriented.

This film delves into themes of psychological horror, blurring the lines between reality and nightmare when the savage nature of the character’s fates start to unveil themselves to them and the audience. The forest itself becomes a malevolent force, its towering trees and winding pathways serving as a sinister labyrinth from which there is no escape. You start to feel the belief of dread of the main characters even more as they try to retrace the steps to find the Michigan Dog Man and feel some shred of disbelief they banter about with each other. You have the usual skeptics, the true believers, and of course, the one or two friends who are just there to go along with the ride.

With each eerie encounter and unsettling discovery, the tension mounts to a fever pitch, culminating in a bone-chilling finale that will leave audiences questioning what lurks in the depths of the woods. This found footage horror movie (like a lot of them before it) is quite the slow burn but has a great payoff when the bodies start piling up. There are some twists, turns, and fair warnings for our main characters to stay away that are easily ignored. Of course, it is always said that without a stupid person or in this case a group of stupidly curious people, there wouldn’t be a plot for the story to keep us intrigued and want more spooky things to occur.

We need these types of people to keep the movie going and every member of the cast does their part to make you want to go into the woods to sudden doom. They each are performed so well with either ignorance, ego, or just plain aggressively well-placed attitudes of “knowing it all” that not only make you connect with each of the characters but almost root for their doom throughout the movie.

The urban legend element of this movie is pretty unique, as the Michigan Dog Man is an actual urban legend spanning over 160 years in the state’s history about a beast terrorizing the locals for years, leaving large claw marks on church doors, trees around the town and even horrific carnage in its wake. Granted this movie did have a lower budget than usual, but it still could have used some on-screen focus of the Michigan Dog Man for the audience to enjoy. The imagination is always utilized to envision what these urban legend-based monsters look like, but when you have a visual medium like a movie it is nice to put the visualization there for all to see.

‘Cruel: The Cross Village Encounter’ from Terror Films Releasing will premiere on Terror Films' official YouTube channel on April 19th at 7 PM PST with the filmmaker and cast participating in a live chat with the fans, followed by a wide digital release on May 17th, 2024. For more horror movie reviews and news, stay tuned to all things spooky here at Macabre Daily.

Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following Macabre Daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.