The Unbinding

"Open up your mind and let everything come through." 13th Floor Elevators

Ok. Maybe not a documentary in the true sense.

But I think these folks, and many others, believe in the paranormal, spirits and spirituality. I mean, what is religion anyway?

I thought the filming was done fairly well. No shaking of the camera. If it had been a Blair Witch attempt, I would not have spent 5 minutes on it.

I also felt the cast did a good job of explaining what they were doing without hyperbolic emotions.

Obviously, not everyone will like or care about this story, but, it's interesting for sure.

Give it a try.

This was a documentary that I put on and treated like a podcast at work. The title sounded interesting. This was also listed on Letterboxd as one of the higher rated horror/documentaries that was on a streaming service that I had. This also being from 2023 intrigued me. That information was enough to check this out.

We are following a married couple, Greg and Dana Newkirk. They grew up together where they were doing their own 'ghost hunting' and filming it. What was interesting there is that Greg grew up religious and then married a practicing witch. Something also interesting here is that I saw a handful of reviews online comparing them to Ed and Lorraine Warren. I can see that since they collect haunted items and also help people. To my knowledge, the Newkirks have fleeced people as of yet.

Now that I've introduced them, the major part of this documentary is them coming into possession of a strange statue from the Catskill Mountains. They found the user on Reddit who was seeking them for him and his friend who took the item. They claimed that it was haunting them. The statue was then sent to the Newkirks, who then go about trying to find out what they can about its origins and what could be lingering about it.

What I'll then say is that this is well-made. It kept my interest throughout to figure out what they would come up with. There are a few different methods that do seem to have scientific backing as well as ensuring that they're not influencing the results. Do I believe that this statue was haunted and causing disturbances? No, I do not. I do believe these people could have experienced things that they cannot explain. How this is constructed worked as well as it made me uncomfortable and I enjoyed that. It does feel like a longer and better production value than episodes of Ghost Hunter shows. I did find the couple we follow likeable. It was entertaining. I will say to watch this to make your own determination as to what you think is happening here.

This was on Tubi, so you can watch it for free with ads.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

I enjoyed it. I was hesitant after reading the negative reviews, but I'm glad I watched it. In some ways, this is a typical ghost hunting "documentary" - meaning, of course there's no evidence. Some reviewers seemed surprised there's no irrefutable proof of ghosts here. There never is - there's no scientific peer reviewed journal about to publish a paper on ghosts. You can't prove gods or ghosts are real, that's the root of people's fascination, and kind of the whole point.

What isn't typical about the Newkirks' approach is that they're not afraid to get into the weird complexities. I can't stand typical ghost hunting shows but this is much deeper. They dive into the psychological muck, take their time getting the emotional experience and tone right. They research everything and show how gooey myth and folklore are. It's cool to watch them piece together their research and experiences - no matter what I personally believe. Yea it's their cognitive bias but so is every single religious or supernatural experience. Regardless, I followed their logic. They touch on magic and the collective unconscious and tie it all together. They might have the goofy tools other ghost hunters have, but they use them in unique ways, and that's only the surface of what they do.

Even if this is all staged, it's still a good story. It's impossible to say what they actually believe, so I can't speculate on their intentions, but it was cool to learn about a goddess I didn't know about before. And I really like what Strand said about how studying the paranormal is like studying yourself. It's true. I think they manage to touch on something ancient that is a key part of the human experience we don't often get to connect with.

I didn't come out of this believing in ghosts or gods. What I got out of this was entertainment and I learned something new. And I did get a little spooked!

This is quite blatantly a scripted, fiction film, that is- for some reason- listed here as a "documentary".

It's not.

And is quite clear about that fact.

That being said...the reasons for this become obvious when you learn who the filmmakers behind the project are: the husband and wife team of Greg and Dana Newkirk.

A couple who run a museum and podcast dedicated to haunted objects, and stories about haunted objects.

So...this is effectively just an elaborate marketing pitch, and call for you to send them your claimed to be haunted items for free...so they can put it in their museum, and make bank off it.

Now...I do believe in haunted objects...I have a painting called "Evil Man", which has a demonic entity attached to it.

So...I am by no means a skeptic.

However...the story presented here- about an effigy found in the Catskills mountain, with nails driven into the eyes, that is said to be haunted a "Crone" type entity- is quite absurd.

And backed by no evidence whatsoever...other than unfounded, unreliable, unreplicatable "ghost hunting" techniques that can easily be dismissed.

As previously noted...when all is said and done, it's actually quite clear that the whole thing is scripted.

They not only allude to this fact...but even poke fun at it.

So, as a documentary...it has zero value.

Though, as a mockumentary...you might argue it's cleverly done.

That is...if you ignore that it's mainly a feature length commercial for themselves, and their museum.

Acting as a desperate plea for you to send them your thought to be haunted objects.

So it doesn't deserve anything more than a 2.5 out of 10.

Which is being generous.

If it weren't for the fact that it is a blatant attempt to draw susceptible wanna believes to their other content, if it wasn't for the fact that the production value and continuity is so poor, if it wasn't for the fact that the script is so weak, it could have been a good plot for a comedy.

Unfortunately it fails on every level, I did laugh out loud at a couple of the absurd moments in the film but I probably wasn't meant to.

What on earth were you thinking? You should not be making films, you should not be writing scripts and you certainly shouldn't be acting in them.

I have experienced many paranormal events and seen many inexplicable things during my life. This film makes a complete mockery of a rather more serious subject and may actually push people away from wanting to find out the truth.

Dong do it again, it is just a cynical exercise.