Mind Body Spirit

Anya starts to explore her Slavic ancestry after moving into her inherited grandmother's house and finds a book left by her grandmother with mysterious rituals. She decides these rituals make better content than the usual yoga instructions she has tried to build an online following with.

Good ideas, the film keeps your attention throughout.

But the acting is so-so and the different themes don't quite fit together. Online yoga and the shallowness of the influencer culture is one important layer, which could have been explored a lot more. The Russian yoga traditions, with such luminaries as the Roerich couple, is hinted at, but largely absent.

So, I have a theory about how the ideas behind this film came together. The writers discussed how creepy yoga can actually be (strange body stretching, weird postures and falsely smiling faces). They googled yoga and found Agni Yoga, the Russian variety, as well as the discussions about cultural appropriation and inauthenticity. Without doing more research than that, they put this film together. That would be the explanation to why the film lacks a satisfying whole and is rather a mishmash of stuff related to the word Yoga.

Again though, a quick and attention-grabbing flick.

Found footage is a favourite choice for film-makers with miniscule budgets because the medium lends itself well to thrifty movie-making. You can get away with not showing the monster clearly; not worrying too much about mise en scène; not having flashy special effects. This is largely what makes found footage work: it's raw, unfiltered and, above all, it feels genuine.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing number of found footage films where the creators have opted for the genre to save money, without actually considering what makes an FF film work.

Mind Body Spirit is one if these films. Ostensibly a collection of recordings from a wannabe YouTube star making wellness videos, the film falls at the first hurdle by completely undermining the idea that this is anything but a low-budget film.

It breaks a cardinal sin of Found Footage by having a soundtrack. There is ambient music and non-diagetic sound throughout, which immediately makes the film seem completely disingenuous. The filmmakers seem to have added it because, y'know, that's what happens in scary movies, forgetting that this is meant to be a series of candid, unedited recordings from an amateur filmmaker.

Then there are scenes which seem to be showing what's going on in the protagonists head, despite the fact that it makes no sense that the camera would capture them.

There was the scene with the "string", which featured such laughably unrealistic and entirely unnecessary special effects, it brought the while scene to a grinding halt.

And there are all the scenes where the camera moves in it's own, with no explanation, in just the right way to capture things in a cinematic way.

If you're going to make a found footage film, every single attempt you make to be more cinematic weakens the authenticity, and ultimately just reminds the viewer that they're watching a zero-budget indy movie.

To my delight, I was treated to this film as the opening night film at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. With a few exceptions here and there I can say with great passion that I am not a fan of the found footage genre, a genre that has its value in the genre but one that I find repetitive throughout and there always comes a point where I can't find justification in the characters' continued use of a camera outside of the need to carry forward a film for another 70 minutes.

Mind Body Spirit does what few in the genre have managed to do in creating a clever use of the camera and one that justifies its continued use and allows us, without giving spoilers, to not only view this piece through the eyes of our protagonist but as voyeurs as well, looking in on something truly frightening that we shouldn't be looking in on.

There are so few performances here in this one, with Sarah J. Bartholomew expertly carrying the bulk of the film on her shoulders, oftentimes being the only character we see on screen for extended periods of time. Madi Bready offers a strong supporting performance as an overly arrogant influencer and, with the little she has on screen, Anna Knigge also manages a sharp performance that feels emotional and grounded enough in its minimal appearance that it manages to pull the viewer in and make us care for the troubled separation of mother and daughter.

The scares are genuinely impactful, relying on clever camera work and a keen eye rather than jump scares and heavy gore with a minimalist score that never overstays its welcome and never comes too soon.

Overall, I've been to many festivals and seen many films at these festivals and I've never felt so compelled to run to IMDb and leave a review for one of them. This one is different. It's competently made and shows true artistic merit. Flock to this one when it's available. It's most certainly a top tier showcase of indie filmmaking.

So of course there's a lot that's a bit silly that you might expect from a low-budget small crew film making their first feature-length horror. However many horror fans like myself can appreciate a fun ride even with highly flawed production.

Yes, it's laughable sometimes. The "book" looked like something a kid made for a school project on something that's supposed to look "aged". You can actually notice the stumble when a cameraman picks up a camera -- stuff like that. Putting in non-diagetic ambiance in a found footage film is rather silly, as is its clearly intentional editing. Pretty much there's not a moment the film that doesn't feel like filmmakers are making it. But, as a yoga influencer might say, just let it go!

Sarah J Bartholomew's committed performance had a tendency to sell all the silly props and tricks, and since *she* was taking it all so seriously, it helped the viewer suspend some disbelief and join her on her ride. She deserves some success in the future of acting.

But honestly, I think what I like most about this feature is the general concept of taking the piss out of new age granola-crunching culture. Usually a demonic possession film is designed to act as antithesis to the Christian church, and it's nice instead to see the target placed on the toxic positivity of westernized McYoga "find your own truth" types. Just like the Christians, Neo-hippies as well have the demons in their closet that's gotta be aired out! I was laughing quite a bit at how the film subverted the sanitized "sacred" vibe of that culture with some well-deserved demonic bloodshed!

Also, I have to appreciate the fact there's a found footage film that doesn't have a second of handheld shaky cam, which is so tiresome. Honestly the shot composition is very strong in the film, the leads performance and the cinematography were probably the strongest elements. And it's so refreshing that the camera stays still most of the time, or only moves very slowly, so you don't get the motion sickness you might usually get from a found footage film -- I have to say too that in many of the found footage films that use that handheld shakiness, it feels forced as if its trying to remind you that it's a found footage film, which is especially silly when it follows "documentarians". Like if they're professional documentarians, you'd think they'd know to hold a camera still! Luckily there's none of that in Mind Body Spirit, the camera is as still as a yogi's attention.

So I'm not gonna call this a great film -- it's definitely not. But I did think it was a hoot that was a lot of fun!

An aspiring yoga influencer goes to live in her late grandmother's house while working to elevate her channel and gain a following. A tale of jealousy and family demons, at times literally, is what follows. Mind Body Spirit is the latest in what seems like an endless slew of low budget found footage movies, and I'll start by saying that as far as that goes this one does manage to stand above the majority. Some fun and at times clever camera work and strong performances, especially by Sarah Barholomew, drive the movie and show that everybody involved has a lot of potential down the road. There are moments that are genuinely creepy, particularly a haunting hallucination involving one character witnessing varying versions of her own spiraling sanity. The downside is that the movie becomes more and more repetitive as it continues, and it breaks many a rule that is a no no to break in a found footage flick, particularly with its use of music. It also feels like a watered down version of Hereditary set in the found footage genre, but not being done as well it fails to live up to its obvious inspiration or provide anything unique to that story outside of the yoga setting. Mind Body Spirit has potential and is even worth a watch, but don't go in expecting anything above average which believe it or not is a compliment for this horror sub-genre.