FROGMAN (2024)

FROGMAN (2024)
Directed by: Anthony Cousins
Written by: Anthony Cousins, John Karsko
Starring: Benny Barrett, Nathan Tymoshuk, Sonya Boushek

Inspired by Batman, a guy dresses up as a frog to become FROGMAN – only joking! Its a Found Footage horror about a Frogman – no seriously!!

The death of all VHS rental stores is the reason why “word of mouth” is so important in the horror genre now. Gone are the days you could pop down to your local Blockbusters to check out the latest releases and as you’re eye glances across the top shelves at big releases, you also catch a glimpse of the lesser known titles, and as always, there would also be the one that would catch your eye.

Films like SESSION 9 to even GINGER SNAPS became cult favourites, thanks to a huge surge in rental and while its easy accessible now to rent from home, there are hordes of titles being missed by the masses, with so much streaming services available and its only because of online chat, that you’ll discover films like FROGMAN do actually exist.

Only coming to my attention, thanks to news of a sequel announcement, which made me curious, FROGMAN is a found footage horror that harks back to the glory days of the late 90s/00’s, when the FF genre was thriving. Director Anthony Cousins doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, a lot of what happens, borrows so much from the likes of the Blair Witch, but then, nearly 90% of these films do and at least we are getting a different lore than seeing some dumb filmmakers heading off to an old abandoned asylum that is apparently haunted, in which they discover it is – ooh!! shock horror!!

We start with a VHS tape of a family holiday in 1989 which they record an apparent huge frog that looks like the size of a man. Please, don’t snigger. Clip becomes popular, then dismissed as a hoax in which many years later, Dallas (Nathan Tymoshuk) haunted by what he saw as a kid, is now determined to prove to the world that this FROGMAN does exist and so drags his best friend Scotty (Benny Barrett) and on/off girlfriend Amy (Chelsey Grant), to the town of Loveland and into the deep dark woods.

Much of the first half of the story is bogged down by the relationship of the three which may tire those wanting more than a slow burn, but for veterans of this blueprint, there is enough going on with tiny hints of warnings from the creepy locals that from experience, its worth staying with, because as soon as night falls, your patience is duly awarded.

The moment they enter the deep forest, the sound of a croaky frog begins to grab your attention and its here that the film takes a full swing into body horror with splashes of H.P. Lovecraft that will delight. Its a refreshing change from shaky cams and not actually seeing what is happening. Here the FROGMAN is shown in all its glory and while its quite clear that the budget has its limitations, it works in so many ways and its more believable than say a CGI image.

Newcomers will laugh at what is on show, but for those who lived through the era of “Just put down the camera and run”, FROGMAN, with make you admire the passion from all involved as it harks back to the glory days of old. A Found Footage horror clearly reminding us of why we all loved this genre in the first place….

Roll on the sequel….