JP Nunez
If you want to get me interested in a movie, your best bet might be to pitch it to me as a Lovecraftian mystery. I find that kind of horror irresistible, so when I first heard about Delicate Arch, I was instantly intrigued. The plot synopsis I received was pretty vague, but it teased that bizarre, potentially inexplicable forces might be at work in this film, and I just knew I had to check it out. I requested a screener as soon as I got the chance, and now that I’ve finally seen the movie, I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint.
Delicate Arch was written and directed by Matt Warren, and it stars William Leon, Kelley Mack, Kevin Bohleber, and Rene Leech. The film follows four college students—Grant, Cody, Wilda, and Ferg—who head out to Utah’s Arches National Park to escape a dangerous atmospheric event known as The Inversion. In particular, they want to see a rock formation known as Delicate Arch, and on the drive there, Grant experiences a few odd, possibly paranormal phenomena.
Time appears to jump ahead on a few occasions, but since he’s the only one who notices it, he doesn’t make too much of a fuss. However, sometime after they finally reach the famed Delicate Arch, things really start to go south for these characters. A powerful and malevolent force seems to set its sights on them, and they’re powerless to stop it.
If you’re a hardcore horror fan, that plot synopsis might remind you a bit of The Outwaters, and rightfully so. On a very broad level, Delicate Arch tells the same basic story as that 2023 found-footage hit, but that’s not the only similarity between these two movies. Delicate Arch is also a very slow burn, so for the first 50-60 minutes, it’s pretty much a straight-up drama with just a few hints of the terrors to come.
For some viewers, that unhurried crawl to the “good stuff” can be off-putting, but as a fan of slow-burn horror, I quite enjoyed it. See, the film starts with the four main characters meeting up and setting off to their desert getaway, and during the drive over there, I came to love each one of them very quickly.
They’re all played excellently, and these actors also have great chemistry with one another. They make you believe that these people really are longtime friends, and that comradery is almost contagious. To be fair, I don’t think I’d want to hang out with this group in real life, but I had a ton of fun hanging out with them through my TV screen. They’re just an absolute joy to watch no matter what they’re doing, so they carry Delicate Arch for the first 50-60 minutes.
My only real issue with this part of the movie comes when the characters trip out on mushrooms while walking to Delicate Arch. The visuals start to get outrageous in all sorts of ways, and that didn’t work for me at all. It felt like weirdness for weirdness’ sake, so after a few minutes, the schtick just got boring.
In fact, that really drags Delicate Arch down until the horror finally kicks it, but once we reach the one-hour mark, the film gets back on track. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I have to tread carefully here. But suffice it to say that the final 20-30 minutes or so are absolutely bonkers in the best way possible.
It’s the kind of Lovecraftian mindf*ck I can’t get enough of, and it bounces from subgenre to subgenre in a way that feels totally natural. It’s almost like writer/director Matt Warren took Benson and Moorhead’s Resolution and The Endless and transposed them into a more classically horrific key, so if you’re a fan of that filmmaking duo’s trademark Lovecraftian style, I think you’re really going to like Delicate Arch.
That being said, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. While Delicate Arch gets pretty crazy, it’s not just insanity for its own sake. There’s a method to this movie’s madness, and it’s super thought-provoking. See, throughout the film, the characters raise questions about the nature of reality and express doubts about everything they see around them, even down to their own existence, and Grant makes a few Scream-esque comments about horror tropes.
Now, on the surface, those two topics don’t have much to do with each other, but here, they’re actually very closely linked. Delicate Arch is a meta-commentary on watching horror movies, so the Lovecraftian monster in this story appears to be us, the viewers. Granted, that’s never made explicit, but there are a number of moments that hint at it very strongly. Most notably, there’s a scene where Grant manages to play with the edges of the shot in a really cool way, and there are even a few times when the camera itself seems to stalk him.
In case you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed Delicate Arch. Sure, it’s not perfect, but on the whole, it’s a fun and intelligent Lovecraftian adventure with four super likable characters. It’s pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be, so if this sounds like the kind of horror movie you’d enjoy, I highly recommend that you check it out when it becomes more widely available.
Delicate Arch had its world premiere at Dances with Films on June 28, and it’s currently seeking distribution.
