There’s something deeply cursed—in the best possible way—about a movie built around a camcorder that should absolutely have been left to rot in a box in the attic. CAPTURE wastes zero time letting you know this is not going to be a calm, rational experience. You don’t watch this movie so much as you submit to it, like, “Yes, evil VHS demon, ruin my evening.” It’s scrappy, a little feral, and fully committed to its bit.
Director Bruce Wemple—a reliable chaos merchant in the indie horror space—knows exactly what kind of nightmare he’s building here. If you’ve seen The Retreat, Monstrous, Dawn of the Beast, or The North Witch, you already know his deal: practical effects, a tight-knit creative team, and a knack for turning limited resources into something that feels weirdly immersive. He doesn’t sand down the rough edges—he weaponizes them. There’s a DIY dread to his films that makes everything feel a little too real, like you stumbled onto footage you weren’t meant to see.
The premise is deliciously cruel: a camera that doesn’t just record you, it ends you. That alone fuels a constant, low-grade panic, and the film leans into it with chaotic confidence. Every time Abby presses play, there’s this growing sense of “please, I am begging you, stop,” which of course means she absolutely won’t. The movie gets that curiosity is the real monster here. Not the ghost. Not the possession. Just the unstoppable human urge to keep watching the worst possible thing.
Kaitlyn Lunardi anchors the whole descent with a performance that keeps one foot in reality while everything else drifts into nightmare logic. Around her, the world feels subtly broken—like the house itself is holding its breath. Wemple’s style thrives in that space. He builds tension through atmosphere and suggestion rather than polish, and when the horror hits, it feels earned. Not clean. Not pretty. Just deeply uncomfortable in a way that lingers.
And then there’s the vibe. This isn’t polished studio horror. This is “found something in the woods and probably shouldn’t have touched it” horror. The pacing occasionally stumbles, sure, but when it locks in, it locks in. Some of the imagery sticks in your brain in that annoying way where you’re trying to sleep later and your mind goes, “hey remember that thing? let’s revisit it right now.” The camcorder itself becomes this weird, oppressive presence—like it’s watching you back.
By the end, CAPTURE doesn’t feel like something you watched—it feels like something you messed with. Like you picked up the wrong object and now it’s your problem. It’s messy, eerie, and just unhinged enough (affectionately) to stand out in the crowded cursed-object subgenre. And honestly? That’s Wemple’s strength. He doesn’t make pristine horror—he makes the kind that sticks to you a little, like static electricity you can’t quite shake.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 119 mins
Director: Bruce Wemple
Writer:
Cast: Kaitlyn Lunardi; Cedric Gegel; Chris Cimperman
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Press Record... Die.
Memorable Movie Quote: "This is a highly unusual situation"
Distributor: Uncork'd Entertainment
Official Site:
Release Date: March 15, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: After mysteriously inheriting her parents house, a lifelong orphan finds a camcorder and a collection of video tapes containing the gruesome secrets of her family's past, and the horrifying truth behind the camcorder they were captured on.
