Saturday, 18 January 2025

Shudder Saturday: Invoking Yell (2024)

Sometimes I watch a film and wonder what I missed as the end credits roll. That can be due to others giving it praise or criticism for aspects I have viewed differently, but it can also be due to simply processing something that left me feeling nothing more than the urge to shrug.

Invoking Yell is a film that fell into the latter category. Directed by Patricio Valladares, who also co-wrote the thing with Barry Keating, it's a horror film with very little horror in it, as well as being a film about black metal and the use of darkness and the paranormal for marketing purposes that ultimately has nothing to really say on the topic.

Macarena Carrere, María Jesús Marcone, and Andrea Ozuljevich are Tania, Andrea, and Ruth, respectively. They are recording as they decide to visit some creepy woods, with the ultimate aim being a finished demo tape. They will create more mystique by trying to pick up EVPs, detailing some of the dark history of the area, and even taking part in one or two black magic rituals.

The fact that this was shot in three days should be of no surprise to anyone who watches the finished product, and I would suggest that almost anyone could deliver something similar in such a short space of time. This is one of many "found footage" movies made with the emphasis on being cheap and careless ahead of being any good. The characters aren't interesting enough, there's no real building up of atmosphere, and the third act is tedious when it should be tense. If you can shoot a film in three days then maybe plan things better to give yourself a week or two instead. 

I don't blame Carrere, Marcone, or Ozuljevich for their work here. They just don't get anything to do. Show me them in a group photo right now and I couldn't tell you who was who, their personalities are so thinly-sketched as they move around simply being part of a trio that is destined to be separated and endangered. 

Despite it having a very particular aesthetic, the black metal aspect doesn't feel as if it matters. The fact that it is set in the late '90s doesn't matter either. The location is similarly unimportant. Nothing here matters, although I am sure that those who live in, or have an affinity for, Chile may at least appreciate the fact that this is from that neck of the woods.

I have already given this film more time and space than it deserves. It's crap. What's more, it's cynical and lazy crap. Described as "a love letter to both black metal and found footage", I would label it more as a love letter to belated cash-ins made with the least possible effort.

3/10

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