From director and writer Jérôme Cohen Olivar, Little Horror Movie is an independent found-footage film that takes place (and was shot on location) in Casablanca, Morocco. While this film is making its debut at the NOLA Horror Film Fest, I was lucky enough to screen it a bit early and, honestly, was pleasantly surprised.
Little Horror Movie follows three YouTubers traveling the world in search of their next viral hit, constantly trying to one-up their previous excursion. The movie begins in Brazil, where the trio have some bad luck, quickly setting up some tension (and maybe some foreshadowing) that what they are doing is not safe but, hey, they are risking for those video views, so they head off to Casablanca. The rather likeable trio of young actors consists of Helen, on-air talent, and her two partners and producers, Einar and Mark. Einar is a bit more on the cautious side, confrontational and willing to speak his mind, while Mark is laid back, providing the comic relief.
After arriving in Morocco and checking out the house they are renting, things begin to take a turn. At first, the house seems like any normal rental but, as they are given a tour, some things begin to … stick out (mainly a locked door in the backyard that the owner quickly prevents them from entering. Relying on comedic beats while the trio continues to explore Casablanca, Little Horror Movie slowly builds the tension until they are invited to a wedding, where the cracks in the expedition start to show.
This wedding takes place is in a beautiful building and all seems normal … until a goat shows up. Helen, who has thrown herself into the culture, joins in the group dance but, really, anyone who has watched a horror movie knows that a goat means demonic stuff is about to go down. After this key moment in the film, the comedy quickly falls to the side and the horror takes it place very quickly. Helen wakes up sick and everything gets very weird and very scary, with Einar and Mark are trying their best to keep it together and help.
Little Horror Movie does a really good job at slowly building to some truly frightening scenes. Helen, played by Rebecca Ramon, is a real standout for the movie and is great to watch as she transforms from an adventurous YouTube personality to a possessed person (whose wall-climbing presence is legitimately horrifying).
The director obviously has a knowledge of horror as the two male leads banter back and forth early in the film about horror movie cliches. Mark wants to make the best found footage horror film whereas Einar thinks that genre of filmmaking is dead. It’s a fun meta take on the whole thing. The characters are making their own movie, they talk about making a horror movies while all wrapped up in a horror movie. I know, it’s wild.
The film, shot on location in Casablanca, lets the authentic, unique atmosphere and architecture play a role, with the fresh location adding to the unnerving plot. Little Horror Movie really does a good job at holding back, since it could have easily showed some of the horror elements early on. After finishing the movie, the one thing that really stuck out to me was that the horror and demon elements were new and fresh, at least for an American audience. (Really, it was just nice to watch a demonic possession movie that did not revolve around the Catholic church). The horror elements were pulled from Moroccan folklore and I really liked it. I actually went online to look up some of the things mentioned in the film, including a place called the Bouya (and this article about the Shrine of the Bouya Omar, which itself was a disturbing read).
Hopefully the film gets some distribution, because I think horror fans will have a good time with some of the unique plot elements. And, if you attending the NOLA Horror Film Fest, definitely check out this fun, independent horror movie.
