Three years ago outdoor enthusiast and survivalist Gary Hinge disappeared in the Nevada desert. This film from writer/director Dutch Marich uses fictional talking head footage, beautiful landscapes and the found footage narrative style of YouTube vlogs to tell his story. Shaky camera work and creepy background sounds help to create a sense of tense verisimilitude. Eventually, shaky infrared footage and the stench of smoke leads to a terrifying discovery.
The Story
Three years ago, Gary Hinge disappeared in the Nevada desert. He was an outdoors and survival enthusiast who loved to hike in the desert and often posted videos of his adventures on a popular online blog. After a month-long search, no sign of him was ever found. His family and friends are still reeling from the mysterious disappearance. Now, a documentary team has caught up with them to dig up any new leads. What they find is more than they bargained for.
The film begins by establishing Gary’s personality and character through anecdotes from his sister and roommate. It’s clear that Gary is a reclusive individual who prefers animals and nature to people. His interests and hobbies only exacerbate the feelings of isolation and rejection that he feels from the world around him. Gary also happens to be gay, which in a small town like New Ruth is a big deal. This largely unsupportive community causes him to feel like a social pariah, especially since he lives with his partner. Luckily, his blog gives him an outlet to express himself and build a sense of self-worth. He has over fifty thousand followers who enjoy his content and engage with his quirks.
Despite his reclusive personality, Gary is also a very intelligent man. He loves to build model trains and is incredibly knowledgeable about all things related to the world of science. This endearing quality about him makes him even more interesting as a subject of a documentary. After the initial interviews, the documentary crew follows up with Gary’s closest friends and family members in hopes of digging up any new information. They find out that he is very adventurous and loves to go on survival quests in the desert. He also has a passion for photography and often posts pictures of his expeditions on his website.
One of the most interesting aspects about this movie is that it mainly consists of talking head interviews with very little actual footage of what happened to Gary. However, the film does incorporate some short segments of tense verisimilitude that do add to the overall spooky feeling of the piece. The film is very good at layering mystery until it finally reveals what actually happened to Gary.
The Plot
Gary Hinge was an outdoor enthusiast who often ventured into the desert on survival quests for days at a time. He documented his adventures on social media and a blog. After one expedition, Gary claimed he was attacked by an unknown entity and fled the area. This sparked an online backlash, forcing him to return and provide evidence. Unfortunately, he never made it back. He was last seen entering the wilderness to check out a small cabin that he had discovered earlier. Eventually, his rucksack was found with his severed hand still holding his camera. While the movie does not take place after his death, it does a good job of establishing Gary’s character and personality through anecdotes from family members and his own blog recordings. His secluded lifestyle reveals that he is suffering from feelings of isolation and rejection. His varied interests and hobbies only exacerbate these emotions.
During his search for the cabin, Gary encounters an eerie atmosphere that makes him feel like he is being watched. As he records the surroundings with his camera, he notices a large rock formation that looks like a face. Suddenly, he hears what sounds like a voice chanting with distortion. He then sees a human-like creature with horrific physical deformities, who attacks him. As he tries to flee, he realizes the cabin is being watched by an unseen force. Then, he discovers that his camera has stopped recording. The shaky camera work, the blurry infrared footage, and the use of creepy background music combine to create a truly unsettling film that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
Horror in the High Desert is a great example of a movie that starts off slow and gradually builds towards a terrifying climax. The film’s commitment to its pseudo-documentary format helps it stay grounded in realism and provides a sense of genuine terror that is hard to replicate. The indie horror flick is a genuinely unsettling watch that incorporates the authenticity of real-life events with the unsettling sensation of found footage. Its inspiration from the disappearance of hiker Kenny Veach serves as an effective reminder of the dangers that lurk in the vast and empty deserts of Nevada.
The Characters
Three years ago, outdoors and survivalist vlogger Gary Hinge disappeared in the Nevada desert. Despite a months-long police search, no sign of him was ever found. Now, a documentary crew has tracked down family and friends to learn more about what happened to him. It turns out that he went back to visit the deserted cabin that gave him a sense of horror and dread on his first trip, and was killed by this deformed monster seen in his final video footage. The film starts off with clips from interviews with Gary’s sister Beverly and his roommate Simon to introduce you to him. Later, Gal Roberts and William “Bill” Salreno join the cast to act as a reporter and a private investigator. They both serve as symbols for the public’s interest and personal anxiety, adding to the solemnity of the story. The majority of the movie’s run time is spent developing its ominous mystery angle, and once it has solidified its place in realism it dives straight into gory horror.
When Gary goes missing on his hiking excursion, the locals and the authorities begin a massive search for him. They narrow down the area by pinging his phone but are unsuccessful in finding him. However, they do find his truck parked in an unfamiliar location and are informed that someone deliberately moved it to make Gary’s trail harder to follow. It’s soon revealed that Gary was a social reject and felt like a prisoner in his small town, so much so that he started a YouTube channel to vent his frustrations. He told his followers that he had been to this deserted cabin and was scared by its ominous presence. He filmed his experience and warned them that it would be better to leave the area as quickly as possible.
However, he was lured back by the promise of a better life and a monetary windfall from his videos. He was also naive enough to think that he could simply use his camera and YouTube channel to evade any kind of danger in the wilderness.
The Ending
A fake documentary/found footage film, Horror in the High Desert was released in March 2021, just one year after the Covid-19 pandemic sent people home from work and school and into quarantine. Writer/director Dutch Marich cleverly uses Nevada’s sinister reputation for conspiracy theories, fusing it with the state’s gloomy topographical characteristics, to create an ominous atmosphere that is perfect for a tale of isolation and dread. The film stars Eric Mencis as Gary Hinge, an outdoorsy survivalist who disappears in the desert while on a hike. His body is never found, but campers discover his cleanly severed hand.
In his blog recordings, Gary reveals that he discovered a small cabin while on a hike in the desert and was immediately disturbed by it. He claims the place gave him a sense of impending doom and that it felt like the walls were alive. Despite his initial feelings of unease, Gary decides to return to the location and record it. While at the deserted cabin, Gary is greeted by a disfigured monster that attacks him. The camera stops recording, and Gary is presumed dead by the police and his fellow survivalists who follow his vlogs online under the alias Scorpion Sam.
The movie does an excellent job of establishing Gary’s character and personality through his own blog recordings. We learn that he’s an isolated individual who values solitude over social interactions and people in general. His various interests and hobbies accentuate the feeling of isolation and alienation he feels from others. The film also shows that he’s not adept at making friends, as evidenced by his lack of relationships with his sister and roommate.
Conclusion
The investigation of Gary’s death is led by a reporter (Suziey Block) and a private investigator (David Morales). Both dig into Gary’s social media and Gal Roberts unearths promising clues in his video blogs. But nothing can prepare them for what is revealed in the final scene of the film. The creature that attacked Gary is revealed to be a man with horrendous physical deformities who doesn’t want to be found.
