MALIBU HORROR STORY comes to us from writer/director Scott Stone and features Dylan Sprayberry, Robert Bailey Jr., Tommy Cramer, Valentina de Angelis, and Rebecca Forsythe in the cast. The film focuses on four teens who go suddenly missing after graduation after a night of partying. However, little by little, more evidence begins to point to something more supernatural within the rural cave where they disappeared. Years later, a team of paranormal researchers with the found footage of the teens go to the property. Looking for any clues, they’re unaware of the ancient danger they now face…

I’m going to be honest: MALIBU HORROR STORY didn’t do it for me. I wanted it to. I gave it the old college try. But the more I watched, the more bland it became, and the more blandly offensive, too. MALIBU HORROR STORY is basically the Instagram account of a cave horror movie. It’s filtered. It reads as polished but lacks substance. It’s unnatural. It’s delivered without much context or explanation. It’s there to look good, be liked, and then scroll away from.

Case in point, and spoiler-warning ahead, but the story focuses on “Native American” mysticism but never delves deeper into the culture or history. It’s the same ol’ “shaman/spirit world/skinwalker/vengeance” trope that we’ve seen before and dilutes the breadth of Native American mythology. It’s a trope that’s prominent in horror, with most notable examples in Pet Semetary, Poltergeist, and The Amityville Horror.

The most problematic thing is that it rolls in so many of the ancient Native American tropes together but without any substance or sincerity. Tribal names are never mentioned. Names of the murdered Native Americans are never mentioned. Heck, a Native American is never even shown besides pictures from the 1800s that are likely pulled from stock. It’s almost parody levels of how scant the information is and how it’s unceremoniously dumped into the exposition.

And, sure, you can’t put in all the accuracy of an entire culture, but if your movie relies heavily on a specific mythos, maybe do a bit of research. Maybe showcase that a bit in MALIBU HORROR STORY. The paranormal “researchers” could have dove into the tribes of the area (Editor’s Note: The Chumash are indigenous to the Malibu area) and more into the massacre besides, ‘the Native American women were raped while the men watched before they all were killed,’ throwaway line.

Are these spoilers? Not really. It’s in the “documentary” portion padding the “found footage” portion, and all wrapped together by the “just a horror movie” portion. Which is the main problem.  MALIBU HORROR STORY is trying to fit too much into one movie.

The jump-scares and ambiance are mostly comprised of loud and spooky sounds and seem to serve the purpose of distracting from the quality of the cave design i.e. does not read as a cave. There’s a lot to work with in a cave and, from my experience, caves are naturally scary. Have you ever been in a cave? Alone? In the pitch black? Hearing strange sounds off in the darkness but not knowing from where? I have. It’s terrifying. The Descent is a film, for example, that captures that fear factor. Unfortunately, the cave we see in MALIBU HORROR STORY is disappointing. It lacks that scare factor that caves just have.

The acting was stilted but, based on what the actors had to work with dialogue-wise, the blame can’t be entirely placed on them. The missing teens do not show any redeeming qualities, making it difficult for audiences to invest in them. The same can be said for the researchers who lack any real authenticity or agency to make them feel like actual people. The dialogue paired with certain moments reminded me of what you’d find in a parody. For example, when characters already know that a creature they’re dealing with is in the cave with them, and they see some contortionist Exorcist walking thing coming towards them, and their response is to go, “Who is that?” My dude. My brother. You know who that is.

As for the cinematography, it was fine but there were some choices made that didn’t fit. The camera work was very shaky when shooting the entity as if to hide or obscure it. This was done in the portion of the film separate from the “found footage” sections, so no excuse for that. The thermal imaging was a neat touch, though. The practical effects were good and the pyrotechnics by Larry Fioritto were a nice touch.  The creature concept from Michael Broom was creepy and menacing, but it would have been great to see it more clearly without the camera being jostled constantly.

If you want a popcorn flick that will make your date jump and go, “AH!!”, then this will do it. However, in the end, because it decides not to push any boundaries, create interesting characters, or explore the real mythology of Native American lore local to the region, MALIBU HORROR STORY will be a story soon forgotten.

MALIBU HORROR STORY will be released in theaters on October 20, 2023.

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J.M. Brannyk

When not solving mysteries throughout Detroit with Jellybeans the Cat, J.M. Brannyk enjoys mostly supernatural and slasher films from the '70s-'90s. Aside from writing, Brannyk dips into podcasts and is the composer of many podcast theme songs. Also check out some other stuff on Hauntedmtl and Gayly Dreadful.

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