Wekufe

I have so far watched 150+ found footage horror movies, but none comes even close to the Chilean film WEKUFE in terms of interweaving social commentary and bringing attention to social injustice within the framework of a conventional horror story based on a local legend.

Perhaps you might not care about such matters, but to me this was truly a revelation. This movie opens up an entire dimension along which virtually nothing has been explored so far in this genre because it lay hidden in plain sight. The approach shown in this film opens up a potential for enriching horror stories (if the film-makers so choose) in a way that can elevate their movies from mere frivolous entertainment to something that has educational and possibly even social activist value. It has caused me to re-conceptualize found footage movies.

Having sung the praises for its social commentary, let me add that the marriage of horror based on local legend+social activism is not pulled off perfectly here; the entertainment value does suffer a little because of the movie's social activist orientation (and that is why I did not rate it higher), but then, one cannot necessarily expect a true pioneer in the genre to be perfect.

A young Chilean couple travels to Chiloé Island, off the coast of Chile, population 155 thousand. The people who live there include both white Chileans descended from the Spaniards, and the indigenous Mapuche. As in many other regions around the world, the indigenous tend to be poorer, sicker and socially more disadvantaged than the whites.

She wants to make a documentary to show how a real-life local legend surrounding the Trauco, a mythical humanoid creature said to mesmerize and impregnate young women, is exploited in conjunction with widespread superstition to cover up rampant rates of child abuse, incest and rape in Chiloé. Claiming "the Trauco did it" helps disperse the shame and guilt associated with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy but also shuts down inquiry into the father and whether the sexual act was voluntary.

He wants to make a found footage horror movie based on the Trauco legend. He makes reference to many well-known horror movies, and even shares some interesting trivia regarding the origin of some of the most famous mythical creatures in Western Literature.

For example, he shares that Moby Dick was partly inspired by an actual albino Sperm Whale that existed around the turn of the 19th century near Mocha Island off the coast of Chile, called "Mocha Dick". That story seems to be true. On the other hand, he also claims that H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu originated from the Mapuche legend of the water god Cai Cai Vilue, which, as best as I can tell, is spurious.

In the course of their travels, they interview a number of persons. Some of these are real-life personalities, who share some of their insights into the problems of Chilean Society.

For instance, the movie actually begins with an excerpt of an interview with the late Renato Cardenas, an intellectual, artist and activist, where he describes how corporate salmon farming is destroying the environment, creating health hazards, harming local businesses, and taking the profits elsewhere. Indeed, checking on this topic, I found that there are huge problems associated with the Chilean salmon farming industry, the second largest in the world after that of Norway.

They also interview the governor of Chiloé province, who unsurprisingly is fictional, as he comes across in a very unflattering way as a backward-minded corporate sellout(However, the office of the governor is real). He may be the only fictional character they interview.

Due to these interviews and the social commentary they provide, the first 45 minutes or so of this very short movie (69 minutes) can be construed as a social documentary masquerading as a fictional movie.

After that, the horror story comes to the fore: she begins to display strange symptoms, and a local Mapuche woman tells her that she has "Wekufe" in her, a kind of force or spirit energy characterized by evil, and in her case related to her search for the Trauco.

Although dismissive of this, she wants to leave the island as soon as possible, but he insists that he needs more footage and convinces her to spend the night (as previously agreed by her) near a forest where the Trauco was reported to be sighted.

The last 15 minutes pick up significantly in pace as unsettling events occur around them and she begins to sleep walk. He tries to follow her, eventually encountering something completely unexpected...

It is a common trope in found footage horror movies that the main characters are dismissive of some dangerous local legend which then turns out to be real, to their detriment. I admit I was worried that the film would take that route, which would have completely undermined the social realist approach of the first part.

I need not have worried. The film pulls off a true horror ending without compromising the integrity of its social message; if anything, the ending reinforces it. From a story point of view, the ending does seem a bit too forced, something which could have been alleviated with a little more information about the relevant happenings.

Although the movie did interweave the story aspect into the social realist commentary-for example, several interviewees are interrupted by phone calls or a person during the interview, after which they suddenly act in a hostile manner toward the couple-horror fans might still find the first 45 minutes a bit slow. It was rewarding to me, because I found it very educational and interesting, but I realize, not everyone likes that.

Incidentally, the most socially conscious horror movie I knew of prior to this was SEOUL STATION (2016), an animated Zombie film which is the prequel to the horror hit TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016) and coincidentally made the same year as WEKUFE. A thematically similar found footage movie is THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY (2018), where the story is set against the backdrop of so-called Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, which apparently abused many young women in real life. That movie's social commentary, however, is much more muted.

Finally, the title of the movie is itself meant as an indictment: the prologue presents a quote which claims that prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, there was no concept of evil among the Mapuche, no concept of Wekufe. That concept only arrived with Christianity, and the indigenous have been the worse for it ever since.

The movie really picks up toward the end. But the whole thing is great. The story, the acting, and the setting was all good. Imagine what the director could do with more budget.

I THINK THAT THE DIRECTOR JAVIER USES BIG CLICHÉS TO REFER TO AN UNDERLYING PROBLEM IN A CHILEAN COMMUNITY, ALTHOUGH IT DOESN'T HAVE BIG SCARES AND LACKS A CREEPY FEELING IN HIS CINEMATOGRAPHY, HE MANAGES TO TELL A SOCIAL PROBLEM, THAT'S WHY HAVING SO LITTLE HE ACHIEVES A LOT, IT HAS HAD A LONG TOUR IN FESTIVALS OBTAINING SEVERAL AWARDS, IT IS A GOOD WORK HOWEVER I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HAD MORE FEELINGS ESPECIALLY CLOSER TO THE GENRE HE USES.

This movie combines three of my absolute favorite movie genres: Found Footage, Foreign (here, Chilean), and Folk Horror. It's a terrific story of two students chasing down the connection of sexual crimes and native folklore. Very good acting and gorgeous background. The story is really captivating and fascinating, especially the ties to the Chilean folklore and Chiloe people. Enjoy! I loved it so much that I bought it for my foreign film collection.

A captivating exploration of belief formation intricacies and the pervasive influence of convictions across cultural landscapes-threaded through the realms of religion, music, and art.

With crafty finesse, it weaves a narrative around the covert weaponization and appropriation of myths and legends by colonialist and imperialist governments. This leaves these ruling entities eternally powerless in the face of their true architects-the communities molding the societal fabric.

Far from the typical horror fare, it intelligently embraces the slow burn structure inherent in found footage films, subverting expectations in the process. This compelling revelation serves as a potent reminder to the genre: meticulously crafted scripts indeed wield transformative power.