The terrifying ‘documentary’ movie that’ll genuinely scare you this Halloween

There’s an underrated found footage film available to stream that will terrify you this Halloween.

For horror fans, successfully finding a film that genuinely unnerves you – or disturbs you so much you need to stop watching it entirely – is an increasingly challenging task.

But Horror in the High Desert might do the trick. The film, which was released in 2021, is a faux documentary about the strange disappearance of hiker Gary Hinge (Eric Mencis) in the High Desert region of Nevada.

Talking heads, including Gary’s sister (Tonya Williams-Ogden) and a private investigator working the case (David Morales), share details about Hinge, as the film attempts to shed light on the whereabouts of the missing hiker.

As the film draws on, it becomes clear there is something more sinister at play – and the film ends with a sequence that is not for the faint-hearted.

The trailer for the film informs the viewer: “Over 600,000 people go missing in the United States every year. an estimated 90 per cent are recovered annually... dead or alive. It is suspected that the remaining 10 per cent vanish into the American wildlands.”

Instead of being a jumpy horror, the film, written and directed by Dutch Marich, builds up dread slowly, but effectively, and is one of the more chilling found footage films in recent years.

Some fans have compared it to Lake Mungo, an Australian found footage film that has generated a cult fanbase since its release in 2008.

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For those who enjoy the film, there are two more to work through – Horror in the High Desert: Minerva and Horror in the High Desert: Firewalk, which were released in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Both sequels expand the universe and lift the lid on a wider conspiracy at play.

Excitingly, a fourth and fifth film are on the way.

The independently financed original was shot while utilising social distancing rules during the height of the pandemic, with the “interviews” in the film shot over Zoom.

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Horror in the High Desert is available to stream on Prime Video.