Horror Movie Review: Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch (2024)

Written and directed by Dutch Marich, Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch is the third entry in the found footage/mockumentary series of Horror in the High Desert films. A series that has, so far, delivered smart storytelling with chills and thrills, while also not adhering to the expected drawbacks of the filming style they employ.

A style of film that combines found footage, interviews, telephone calls, internet history, news bulletins and characters piecing a mystery together, into something that feels like a documentary. This is what 2021’s Horror in the High Desert nailed. The wonderful combination of artistic licencing that you get with a documentary and enigmatic true-crime horror.

Telling a simple story about an outdoor enthusiast who went missing in Northern Nevada, making it feel so real, and creating a mystery that was as unnerving as it was exciting. The 2023 sequel, Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva continued this story but introduced even more mysterious disappearances within the high desert and asked if the two major incidents could be linked somehow.

Alas, Minerva was baby steps forward. Proving to be all build and no payoff, with tease after tease, creating frustration when it became abundantly clear it wasn’t going to give deep answers. Which means it’s not quite as good as the first film, even though it’s still thoroughly entertaining.

Coming off that film though, it felt like Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch had to deliver. Another entry that failed to really move the story forward would be unacceptable and diminish the overall enjoyability of the Horror in the High Desert experience.

Happily, Horror in the High Desert 3: Firewatch proves to be a massive step forward for the franchise. Not just expanding on the stories around those who disappeared in the first two films, but offering up explanations for certain events, revealing new details, adding even more horror to things, creating a tone that is tension heavy throughout, and introducing the best character of the series so far, Oscar Mendoza (Marco Antonio Parra). Who, unlike anyone else who has ever tried to find Gary Hinge, knows something nobody else does and that is what the film explores.

However, what makes it so much more enjoyable is that Oscar is a character himself, and this journey he is on, is somewhat spiritual for him. He’s not just trying to find out what happened to Gary, or Minerva, he’s trying to find himself. It is an excellent way to not just make us care about him, but it serves to distract from the constant feeling of dread that the film has.

With wildfires bearing down on the opposite side of the state, Oscar has been able to use the distraction to go deeper into the desert than anyone has ever gone before, and this results in some of the most frightening stuff the series has created so far. Yes, this is dressed up in found footage, but because the over-riding style is mockumentary, it’s divided up nicely and delivered in a way that is so much more palatable.

This is what was needed, and if the series of films ends with this one, it ended in style, even if there are still plenty of unanswered questions. Hopefully, Dutch Marich has another one in him, as it does feel like there’s still so much more Horror in the High Desert to explore.