Have you ever just… lost a film? I don’t mean physically, but have you ever seen a film on one streaming service or another, or maybe even flipping channels, and then forgotten the name? Maybe you came in during the credits and never caught the title, or you were distracted when it was on the screen. I guess it’s the equivalent of the bad old days of my youth when I’d hear a song on the radio and the DJ wouldn’t mention the name and I’d go months (sometimes years) never knowing what the name of the song was. That’s even happened to me with books. I spent decades looking for a science fiction novel I’d read when I was seven or eight – something my dad had brought home. I could only remember bits and pieces about some guys trapped on an ancient, alien spaceship, trying to figure out how to survive as it went on a pre-programmed flight… You know what, this isn’t relevant. Sorry.
ANYWAY. The point of this particular ramble is that I saw a found footage film years ago and all I could remember about it was that it involved the disappearance or deaths of everyone in a small southern town, and that I liked it quite a bit. I had some vague idea that the title might have the word “South” in it. So I checked out films like Southbound (a decent horror anthology film) and Southland Tales (a “dystopian black comedy”) and even the show Southland (cops in LA). None of them were the film I was looking for, and I had mostly given up on finding it again.
And then last night I was scrolling through Tubi and found a film called Savageland. Hold up, I thought, this looks vaguely familiar…
The Medium
Savageland is available on streaming via Tubi and Vudu for free (with ads). It’s also available for subs on Screambox and can be rented or purchased via Amazon, Fandango and Microsoft.
It looks like there was a bare-bones DVD release in 2018, but nothing on Blu-ray. I’d love to see a decent release with a commentary and behind-the-scenes stuff.
The Movie
Savageland focuses on a massacre in the small Arizona border town of Sangre De Cristo. All but one of the 57 residents are dead or missing and the sole survivor – a day laborer named Francisco Salazar (Noe Montes) – is the main suspect. Covered in blood and human bite marks, Salazar is incommunicative – near catatonic – and the narrative that is built up by the (mostly white) authorities is that he is a dangerous, violent, illegal immigrant who took advantage of the good people of the town and perpetrated a massacre.
Savageland is not really a found footage movie. If anything, it’s a found photos film. It’s set up in the same style as true crime documentary shows like I’ll Be Gone in the Dark or Making a Murderer. There are interviews with the authorities, with locals, and with reporters. There’s a local guide who takes the camera crew through the empty streets of Sangre De Cristo as he narrates a moment-by-moment version of the events of that terrible night.
And there are the photos.
While the authorities are certain they’ve got their man – and the vehemently racist locals are certain as well – journalist Lawrence Ross (playing a version of himself) is less sure. The details don’t always match up, and there are bodies – or parts of bodies – where Salazar couldn’t have been. There are people who have, apparently, jumped off of the town water tower. Parents. Children. Inconsistencies that are brushed off by the local sheriff (George Savage). Salazar is quickly convicted and sentenced to death, but Arizona has an automatic appeal in death sentence cases.
It’s during the leadup to this second trial that Ross receives a roll of film taken by Salazar. A single roll of film, 36 exposures, all taken during that horrible night. They are dismissed by authorities as a hoax (though Salazar’s photo taking hobby is used against him) and the photos are deemed inadmissible in court.
The photos and their explanation – by the guide and by a photographer/expert (played, to my surprise, by comic book writer Len Wein) – provide most of the horror. Some additional context is added with a prison interview of Salazar by a court-appointed psychologist. People came out of the southern desert and attacked the town. And the people who were attacked came back to life and attacked others.
SPOILERS
It’s a zombie movie. Holy crap, it’s a zombie movie! Salazar is the sole survivor of an attack by the undead. The one who stumbles out of town at the end. The only one who can tell the tale. Except instead of a plucky final girl, he’s an illegal immigrant. I can’t imagine Laurie Strode or Nancy Thompson being accused of massacring an entire town.
Savageland does not pull its punches. It portrays the locals as loud and proud racists, and the local shock-jock radio host is far too familiar in both his cadence and his content. The film was released in 2015, but it could have been today. Savageland is supposed to be the nickname for the town of Sangre De Cristo, but it could just as easily be talking about the whole country.
The conceit of using the photos to tell the “real” story shouldn’t work. The photos are mostly blurry (with some dramatic exceptions) and require the context of the narration. It should grind things to a halt and make us wish for a more straightforward, filmed version of the events. They are haunting and evocative, however, and I found myself leaning forward whenever they were on screen, trying to glean details. It’s a genius way for a low-budget production to create the sense of a massacre without worrying about bad makeup, editing or camerawork.
We see one version of the truth. Ross sees something different. The authorities – and the jury – see yet another truth. In the end, the truth doesn’t matter – only the narrative that’s decided on, by the media, by the authorities. Salazar’s appeal is denied and the poor man, haunted and traumatized, is put to death.
But you’ll remember he was severely bitten.
The Bottom Line
Savageland is an excellent faux documentary type horror film (I can’t really call it found footage), and I’m so glad to have finally found it again! It’s well-made and acted and almost reaches the levels of similar films, like Lake Mungo. It can sometimes be a little ham-fisted with its narrative (especially in providing context for the photos, which I can understand), but is generally pretty deft in building a horrifying and tragic story from the point of view of someone who survived one horrible event, only to become the victim of another. Highly recommended.
Aside: That sci-fi book I’d been looking for turned out to be Galactic Derelict, by Andre Norton. I finally found it after 30 years of trying.
