In Alastair Orr’s Indigenous six young, attractive surfers find themselves holidaying in the jungles of Panama. While there, they decide to embark on a journey to a locally celebrated waterfall that is rumored to have replenishing powers. However, the recommendation comes with a warning of a beast that lives in the jungle that feasts on people’s flesh: the chupacabra. Needless to say, things don’t go well for the surfers.
The new flavor in the mix is an emphasis on social media. As they surf, party, pursue romance and, eventually, die the characters are constantly recording themselves and posting it online. It initially seems like a trite addition for the sake of a modern audience but becomes relevant to the story later in the film. It’s nice to see a horror film steer away from a condemnation of technology and play with the idea that maybe our global culture might actually save us. It’s a shame this idea wasn’t explored more thoroughly as it would have enhanced what is now a pretty thematically vacant movie.
What Indigenous spends more time doing are things we’ve seen a hundred times before. The group we are following couldn’t be more cliché: young, arrogant and sexy. The actors, headed by Zachary Soetenga and Lindsey Mckeon as the leaders of the bunch, don’t really deliver, and aren’t helped much by a script full of clunky exposition and uninspired dialogue.
The film excels, however, in its creature effects with David Leroy Anderson on board as the chupacabra designer. Anderson’s design is simple yet effective and the makeup team, as well as performer Mark Steger do a great job at creating something to keep you up at night. Director/editor Alastair Orr and cinematographer Brendan Barnes do a great job of shooting the action while never fully revealing the monster until the last moment. The pacing and structure of the story, while formulaic, are spot on and the film, at 85 minutes, is short enough to make sure it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. But overall Indigenous feels half-baked. There are some thoughtful insights on media and the implications of being part of a global family hidden inside another run of the mill slasher flick.
