Tags:
Film: Dark Distortion
Year: 2026
Director: Joseph Herrera
Writer: Joseph Herrera
Starring: Jada Jay, April Hartman and Ethan Vaughan
Review:
This was a film that I learned about thanks to a press release from Breaking Glass Pictures. Lauren sent over a screener so I figured I’d watch it since I like to round out my end of year horror list with independent films. Outside of knowing that this was in genre and briefly reading the synopsis, I did come into this one as blind as possible.
Synopsis: a group of adult models turned thieves who face unintended consequences after stealing a camcorder that houses the spirit of a murdered child.
We start this with seeing footage on a camera of a boy’s birthday party. The only person that we can truly make out who they are is Victoria (April Hartman). She gets annoyed with her husband, as I get the idea that he tends to film a lot of these events instead of helping her.
It then shifts away from this to a man tied up in bed. His name is Don (Pete Anthony Pena) and we see a woman in lingerie enter. The name that she goes by is Promise (Lily Lurid). Now what gets revealed is that he’s cheating on his wife. Promise is actually a member of a house of online adult models. There is a deeper plot going on here. We see there is someone moving in the background but disappears before she sees. Promise then pulls a gun on Don and robs him. When she leaves, we realize she has an accomplice, another performer named Max (Griffin Smith).
This duo then goes to a gas station to fill up. It is here that we meet Jeremy (Joe Walker). He’s starting at Promise intensely. When the couple leave, Jeremy pulls out a video camera. The duo is going to film content in a tent. Jeremy follows and it is here that we see that this camera is supernatural as they’re both killed.
We then shift over to meeting the group that we’ll follow. This is in a large house that is used for a group of models. Promise and Max lived here. It is run by Manny (Ethan Vaughan). One of their top performers is Layna (Christina Gonzalez), but this is her last day as she is moving. There’s also Charlotte (Kionna Williams) and Dimitri (Mitchell Maggard). I believe these two are a couple. Something to point out here is that Manny has relapsed and is struggling with using cocaine again. On this day, they have a new person moving in to take Layna’s spot, Nina (Jada Jay).
Victoria is grieving her son Sammy's death and we see this through an interaction with her mother. Victoria is convinced that her ex-husband, Jeremy, performed a ritual and that Sammy is alive. Jeremy meets an escort, Tammy (Cynthia Santiago) at a motel. It is here we see that Victoria might be right. A shadow entity in a camera can affect the real world when it is active. In the model house, Red (Miles Stoner) takes over, demanding a large sum of money that he’s owed, willing to resort to murder to collect.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this film does interesting things with the story. It also does odd things. I can work with the idea that a grieving parent would turn to black magic to keep their child around. This is something that is used fairly regularly. Something that I’ll also credit with is that it plays with expectations with certain characters. As the story approaches its climax, unpredictable deaths of a few characters occur. I want to give credit there to raise the stakes by not protecting characters.
Now that I’ve set that up, let’s delve a bit more into this creature. Victoria is friends with Travis (Larry The Fairy). He seems to believe what Victoria is saying, at least to an extent. She is convinced that her husband did something to Sammy after he died. The reason I’m bringing this up is that the son had a tumor that killed him. I’m not sure if that was the cause of his violent outbursts, but there was a line where Sammy might have killed someone before he died. He had a volatile personality. That makes this entity, now that Jeremy transferred his soul, dangerous.
The title is relevant to the concept. While I dislike digital distortion, it is justifiable here. When the cursed camera is on, Sammy, as a shadow, can manipulate objects and attack people. Jeremy's grief has made him complicit in his son's chaos. A later, unexpected reveal works well with this concept. However, the random use of the camera by characters who don't own it weakens the logic until a late-stage explanation.
Let’s then explore more with the group that we’re following. They are online models who live together, constantly creating new content. Surprisingly, their income method is twisted: Manny does the research on the followers, then his models set up meet-ups at their house to rob them. This convoluted concept needs refinement, but I'll judge the film as presented. I will give credit here to the relevance of the current state of content creators and the lengths they will go for their ‘followers’.
That should be enough for the story so let’s go over to the acting performances. Jay, the lead, develops from an innocent newcomer to her final state, subtly revealing a subplot about something that makes her stronger. Hartman effectively portrays the struggling mother, while Walker is her demented counterpart. Vaughan serves as the catalyst for the events. Gonzalez, Lurid, Williams, Maggard, and the rest of that crew fit their roles. Along with Stoner, Johnny Ortega and Krista Nicole providing necessary "cannon fodder" characters.
All that is left then will be the filmmaking aspects. I’ll start with cinematography and framing. These are both fairly well done. They are able to frame things in a way to hide the seams. I do appreciate the shift to Jeremy and others using this hand-held camera. That was a good touch. Moving over to the effects, what they do with the shadow creature is good. There is limited blood, but what we see is fine. I’m not a fan of digital distortion. I can work with it here due to the concept being used. Other than that, the soundtrack fits what was needed without standing out.
In conclusion, this is a surprisingly effective independent horror film that leverages its central, albeit convoluted, concept—a cursed camcorder housing the soul of a violent child. Director Joseph Herrera successfully crafts a narrative that plays with audience expectations, particularly concerning character mortality, which elevates the stakes. While the logic surrounding the camera's use could be tighter, the film is visually competent, and the performances, especially from Jay and Hartman, anchor the emotional and horror elements. It serves as a solid entry into the modern independent horror landscape, offering a dark and distorted commentary on exploitation and grief.
My Rating: 6 out of 10