Seeking closure can lead to some dark places. Sometimes, it’s better to take a Hellboy-esque approach towards things and just let the past be the past. Markian Tarasiuk’s Hunting Matthew Nichols is an exploration of the lingering pain brought on by losing a loved one to unknown circumstances, and why sometimes, it’s better to just leave those circumstances unknown.
When Tara Nichols was just a child in 2001, her older brother Matthew went missing with his friend Jordan Reimer on Halloween night. After an exhaustive search, the only piece of evidence was a camcorder and tape found in an abandoned cabin in the mountains surrounding their British Columbia town. Now, filmmaker Markian Tarasiuk and Tara embark on a journey to answer the myriad unanswered questions surrounding the case, and to get to the bottom of a mystery that only deepens when it becomes clear that authorities may be hiding something.
Right off the bat, this film will hook you. For the first twenty minutes or so, I was unsure if I was watching an actual documentary about something that had actually happened. The format and performances and story are initially that believable that it will throw you off kilter. This sense of authenticity goes a long way in keeping the viewer immersed in the narrative even after it becomes apparent this is a work of fiction, which is something a lot of these found footage/documentary style horror films fail miserably at. The film seeks to emulate a Netflix/Hulu style true crime doc and it hits that nail right on the head. Splicing bits of footage that Tara’s brother shot with his friends in with interviews of those associated with the search and Tara’s family make this feel like something you’d throw on on a whim some Saturday night just to see how it is. Even when things start creeping into the realm of the fantastic and horrific, it still feels grounded and real. The performances of some of the older townsfolk who were involved with the search for Matthew and Jordan do a lot of the heavy lifting in that area, as the actors absolutely sell us characters who want to help Tara get to the bottom of the mystery but are still quietly freaked out by something they witness two decades ago.
Story wise, this film blends together many elements to create a classic story of “small town missing teenager ooky spooky”: there’s a dash of good old fashioned Satanic panic thrown into the mix that pays off in the end wonderfully. The titular characters obsession with The Blair Witch Project is not just a plot device that leads he and Jordan to their fate, but also a sly nod to how elements the film borrows from BWP: namely the missing boy’s footage and their obsession with a local legend. That’s not to say this film is a rip off of BWP: I’d argue it’s actually far more effective at telling a creepy story than that. The legend surrounding Roy Mackenzie, the mythical cult leader whose cabin the boys were looking for when they disappeared, is perfectly laid out in the film with just enough info to be creepy but not overly explained to have the viewer asking themselves how the filmmakers knew that much.
Horror elements aside, Tarasiuk does an excellent job of injecting the story with some extremely sympathetic human elements to get us invested in Tara’s search. Miranda MacDougall as Tara Nichols is incredible at playing someone who is very clearly suffering from decades of grief over her missing brother and his best friend. Indeed, the film does much to let the audience know that Jordan wasn’t just Matthew’s best friend but also a friend to the rest of the family. When Tara sheepishly admits in an interview that Jordan was probably her first crush, there’s a feeling of genuine pain in her words. Tarasiuk also highlights an element of missing child cases that unfortunately rarely gets addressed: the additional agony for parents when they are the initial suspects before police can clear them of any wrongdoing. Think of John Walsh being the main suspect when his son Adam went missing back in the early ‘80s. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare come true compounded by their sincerity being questioned by authority figures. Tara addresses this is the film by saying this led her to doubt her own recollection of the events surrounding her brother’s disappearance for years. The way indigenous people are perceived by the wider public is examined (Jordan Reimer was indigenous) in that there was a lot of mistrust and additional suspicion cast upon his family.
Tarasiuk does a lot with a little when addressing the fate of Matthew and Jordan. When the tape that was in their camcorder is retrieved, we the audience don’t actually see what’s on it. Instead, we are witness to Tarasiuk sitting outside the bathroom while Tara is heard weeping in anguish inside. Later, we see Tarasiuk and his cameraman watch the film, and their reactions are, while understated and restrained, absolutely ones of horror and disbelief. Their conversation afterwards about how the film could be faked because it must be fake for it to show what was on there does in a few minutes what many FF films fail at pulling off. This very human reaction of trying to rationalize the irrational and explain away the utterly terrifying is extremely relatable. Even the climax of the film is minimal. Sure, there’s some horrifying imagery, but it’s nothing so crazy that it strains our ability to believe in the film.
Hunting Matthew Nichols is not a perfect film. In the final act there are few moments where the zippers show, and a few FF tropes work their way into the mix. But overall, Tarasiuk is successful at crafting a story of loss and grief and horror in a way few films are. It’s a genuinely unsettling film that unsettles not because of imagery but through the emotional investment in Tara and Tarasiuk himself, and in the very real and human idea of losing someone and having no idea what happened to them even decades later.
Head to https://www.huntingmatthewnichols.com for screening info
