The Outwaters
Found footage horror from the Mojave Desert.
The Outwaters is a 2022 American surrealist horror film. Robbie Banfitch wrote, directed, produced, and edited it, and he also appears in the cast alongside Angela Basolis, Scott Schamell, and Michelle May. The movie is presented as found footage retrieved from memory cards. It follows a group of friends who traveled into the Mojave Desert in 2017 to film a music video, where they encounter strange and dangerous events. The film first showed at the New Jersey Film Festival on February 12, 2022, and later played at other festivals. Cinedigm released it in select U.S. theaters on February 9, 2023.
- Release year
- 2022
- Director
- Robbie Banfitch
- Genre
- Surrealist horror
- Format
- Found footage
- Premiere
- New Jersey Film Festival, February 12, 2022
- US theatrical release
- February 9, 2023
- Rotten Tomatoes rating
- 75% based on 69 reviews
Lore & Background
The film opens with a panicked 9-1-1 call and visuals indicating that Robbie, Angela, Scott, and Michelle have been missing since 2017. A title card explains that the footage was recovered from three memory cards found in the Mojave Desert. Robbie, an aspiring filmmaker in Los Angeles, recruits his brother Scott and friend Angela to help film a music video for his friend Michelle. While preparing, he celebrates Scott's birthday, surprises their mother, parties with Angela, and talks to Michelle about her recently deceased mother. Footage of two separate earthquakes captured by Robbie from his apartment is also shown.
Reader's Guide
The Outwaters is significant as a found-footage horror film that premiered at the New Jersey Film Festival in 2022 and was later acquired for North American distribution by Cinedigm. Its critical reception on Rotten Tomatoes stands at 75% based on 69 reviews, with a consensus calling it 'an ambitious—and overall effective—slice of found-footage horror.' Metacritic assigned a score of 72 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews. The film's legacy lies in its transgressive use of the found-footage format, as noted by Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting, and its ability to affect viewers through suggestion, as described by Grace Detwiler in Rue Morgue. It was released on the horror streaming service Screambox on February 17, 2023.
Did You Know?
- The film is presented as found footage from three memory cards found in the Mojave Desert.
- Robbie Banfitch wrote, directed, produced, and edited the film, in addition to starring as Robbie Zagorac.
- The film premiered at the New Jersey Film Festival on February 12, 2022.
- An after-party for the film was held in New York City's Astoria neighborhood on February 13, 2022, and included a showing of Harmony Korine's film Trash Humpers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Outwaters?
The Outwaters is a 2022 American surrealist horror film presented entirely as recovered memory-card footage. It follows a small group of friends who drove into the Mojave Desert in 2017 to shoot a music video and stumbled into deeply unsettling, dangerous events.
Who made The Outwaters?
Robbie Banfitch wrote, directed, produced, and edited the film, and he also appears in front of the camera. He is joined on screen by Angela Basolis, Scott Schamell, and Michelle May.
What is the premise of The Outwaters?
A tight-knit crew heads to the Mojave Desert to film a music video, but the trip quickly spirals into bizarre and threatening territory. The story is told through the lens of found footage, as if the audience is watching raw, unedited memory-card recordings of what went wrong.
Where and when did The Outwaters premiere and release theatrically?
It had its world premiere at the New Jersey Film Festival on February 12, 2022, and went on to appear at additional festivals. Cinedigm then distributed a limited U.S. theatrical run beginning February 9, 2023.
Why do fans consider The Outwaters a standout in cosmic horror?
It grounds its surreal, cosmic dread in an extremely mundane setup—a desert music-video shoot—making the strangeness feel more intimate and disorienting. Banfitch's hands-on control over every creative role gives the film a singular, personal texture that sets it apart from typical found-footage entries.
More in Cosmic horror films 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record