I was in the mood for a found footage horror and I had heard a couple of good things about the amphibian themed Frogman. Directed and co-written by Anthony Cousins (Scare Package segment 'The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV - The Final Kill'). I thought it might be hard to make a film about a giant frog something that could be taken seriously, but kudos for that being the case here somehow.
As a child in the 1970's, Dallas (Nathan Tynoshuk) accidentally caught footage of a frogman cryptid while on holiday with his family in Loveland. The footage was believed to have been fabricated, and has led to a life of gentle ridicule for the man. Wanting not only closure, but concrete proof that the creature does exist, Dallas convinces his best friends, Amy (Chelsey Grant) and cameraman Scotty (Benny Barrett) to accompany him back to Loveland where he plans to make a documentary to finally get people to believe that what he saw as a child was real. The town in the time since has become a tourist trap, including no end of frog-themed merchandise and tourist hot-spots, but Dallas remains convinced there is truth to the legend. One dark night it appears that he may finally have discovered what he has so desperately been searching for.
Frogman has a cold open, with the expected black screen of text explaining why the 'found' footage has been so precisely edited together missing. It does eventually make an appearance at the end of the eighty minute horror. Instead, it opens with the camera footage from the 19070's, before going to an internet influencer pouring doubt on the footage, with it seeming like the whole film is actually the edited together documentary that Dallas and his friends had been making during the events. It follows a traditional path, with the first half being the lead-up to the arrival at Loveland, with plenty of footage of the trio messing around, such as Amy wanting to play the part of a made-up character in the documentary. You also get some backstory subplots going on, especially when it comes to Amy and Dallas' friendship and an incident that happened between them a few months previously.
The second act is then set in the small town, featuring a bunch of interviews with eccentric locals who have theories about the creature ranging from frog worshipping cults operating in the area, to how the frogman is meant to be able to read minds. It was then quite an abrasive cut to the much more horror themed final act in which (surprise surprise) it turns out the frogman is actually real. I loved this third act quite a bit, even if it doubles down on the usually tired tropes of the found footage genre.
There is plenty of camera glitches and shaky hand-cam footage, but here there is a solid reason given for it. It is established that the frogman is able to affect electronics, which on camera leads to some effective almost arthouse style moments of jarringly edited footage that includes freeze frames, repeated and distorted audio, micro-clips from other scenes playing in the mix, and some freaky looking images. I loved these moments, the confusion and chaos of the moment being perfectly replicated with these demented sequences. The titular creature is kept manly off camera, the adage of less is more works well here, as a few times when it is more on camera it does look a bit weird. Once the horror starts it doesn't let off until the end of the movie, with the woodland scenes in particular being quite freaky. There was also an extended part set in caverns, but this wasn't quite as good despite the cool location.
Frogman was a solid found footage horror with some nice editing and a unique idea. It was a bit too typical of the genre, with the pacing feeling a bit too familiar, but it seemed to speed through its story without there seeming to be too much filler padding out the first half. I've certainly seen far worse found footage horror films, and this one had an interesting monster and good sound design. Frogman is streaming exclusively on SCREAMBOX.
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