FANTASIA26 REVIEW: The Last Footage [20XX]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 88 minutes
Director(s): Arkar Soe Oo
Writer(s): Arkar Soe Oo

Show some respect for the things you don’t understand.

Billed as the first found footage film coming out of Myanmar, Arkar Soe Oo’s The Last Footage begins with a montage of different 4K smart glasses users as they go about their day-to-day lives. It’s like a proof-of-concept prologue getting us prepared for what the first-person vantage point can deliver as scenarios and possibilities escalate towards a trio stumbling upon an unknown ritual with a creepily orchestrated price to pay for their curiosity.

They aren’t the leads, though. And those cultists aren’t the villains. So, we move from that mood setter to Aung Khant’s (played by the filmmaker himself) eyes as he opens his new LIVE! 4K Pro spectacles before heading out to meet friends for dinner. It’s there that we discover their latest adventure vacation is about to begin with Thu Ya (Charlie Nyein) picking the destination: an abandoned rubber plantation in the Wingabar Forest left to him by his late grandfather.

The potential nightmare that awaits is easy to imagine once we see Wa Na (Thiha Tin Aung Soe) and Mya (Lain Maw Tee) covertly planning a summoning spell and learn about Thu Ya’s uncle’s (Kyaw Kyaw Bo’s Ko Nyo) tragic past of losing his wife and children to a fire he was accused of starting on that same land. So, there’s a history of death, the playing with things outside of their understanding, and, upon arrival, a witch (Mo Khum) cackling about awakened monsters.

The group is rounded out by Thu Ya’s wife Daisy (Adira Oo), their other friend Linn (Li Li Kyaw Khaing), her little brother (Phyo Khant’s Min Thant), and the bus driver (Swan Htet Aung’s Ko Htet) they hired to get them into the woods. Ko Nyo tries to tell them to stay away because he knows the sort of evil that lurks in those trees—or, at the very least, believes as a coping mechanism for the guilt of what happened to his family. When they refuse, he joins to protect them.

There are a lot of cuts at the beginning as the script scrubs through their journey to only highlight those moments that we need to better wrap our heads around what’s to come. Once we get to the cabin and the witch, however, things feel like a continuous take capturing the insanity in real-time. Whether Min Thant’s disappearance, a zombie (Saw Thit) risen from the grave, or an ancient hulking beast with antlers (Thura Zaw Htet), Aung Khant films it all.

Despite the culturally specific folk horror mythology at its back, don’t expect too much in the way of new territory for the genre or the gimmick. All the usual tricks are used to craft well-timed jump scares via objects coming into and out of frame due to first-person pans and bad peripheral vision. Plot is thrown away to allow for the characters’ heightened survival instincts and impulses to kick in. And the dialogue devolves into screaming as things go from bad to worse.

Being familiar doesn’t mean it’s ineffective, though. This is a low-budget indie feature with Arkar Soe Oo putting himself in the film to be its camera operator while also wearing writer, director, and editor hats, so you must take some aspects with a grain of salt. Some of the acting can go over-the-top, but even that’s not necessarily unintentional considering the subject matter. Li Li Kyaw Khaing is an obvious standout thanks to a consistent emotional authenticity.

As for the production value, The Last Footage does well ratcheting up the eerie atmosphere thanks to candlelit shrines and some gnarly make-up where it comes to the zombie (thanks to an up-close-and-personal look when it attacks Aung Khant). The monster is a bit shakier in that it seemed pretty fake looking at the start with many of its kills happening in the distance to hide the need for gore. When we get closer, though, its detail did change my mind for the better.

The one aspect that is difficult to ignore is the fight choreography. They do their best to mask deficiencies by keeping the camera far away, but things can get silly when characters keep whacking the monster with a glorified stick that does absolutely nothing. Yes, there’s purpose to this considering they are later given a medallion that hurts it, but the repetition starts to feel less like “scared people” and more like “we need them close enough to be murdered.”

Other than that, however, it’s a successful entry into the genre that both shows an adoration for the titles that came before it and the excitement we should have to see what Myanmar does next to continue elevating its low-budget digital online fare to true theatrical offerings. The potential is there for marked improvements that elevate the ideas and unique supernatural mythologies of the country while honing its voice and aesthetic into something wholly new.