User reviews

This movie had so much potential. But for me, it fell short. I rather enjoyed the ending, and the movie held my attention throughout. But I felt frustrated at the acting in some parts; in a lot of the scenes, it felt as though they didn't do enough takes; actors/actresses fail to feel real sometimes, and it felt like the director didn't wait until he got the right take.

Also, there were certain scenes that felt rather forced. And the end-twist, although very enjoyable to watch, could be seen coming a mile away.

I would have enjoyed this movie much more, had it been a 30 or 40 minute film in a VHS anthology.

Even though this movie has a fair amount of flaws, it was worth the watch; and I'm curious as to what the director will come out with next.

An aspiring yoga influencer goes to live in her late grandmother's house while working to elevate her channel and gain a following. A tale of jealousy and family demons, at times literally, is what follows. Mind Body Spirit is the latest in what seems like an endless slew of low budget found footage movies, and I'll start by saying that as far as that goes this one does manage to stand above the majority. Some fun and at times clever camera work and strong performances, especially by Sarah Barholomew, drive the movie and show that everybody involved has a lot of potential down the road. There are moments that are genuinely creepy, particularly a haunting hallucination involving one character witnessing varying versions of her own spiraling sanity. The downside is that the movie becomes more and more repetitive as it continues, and it breaks many a rule that is a no no to break in a found footage flick, particularly with its use of music. It also feels like a watered down version of Hereditary set in the found footage genre, but not being done as well it fails to live up to its obvious inspiration or provide anything unique to that story outside of the yoga setting. Mind Body Spirit has potential and is even worth a watch, but don't go in expecting anything above average which believe it or not is a compliment for this horror sub-genre.

"Mind Body Spirit" (2023) is a found footage horror film that delves into the dark side of influencer culture and spiritual obsession. The film follows Anya, an aspiring yoga influencer who moves into her estranged grandmother's home to record her first video. There, she discovers a hidden room filled with cryptic messages and items left behind by her grandmother, Verasha.

Intrigued, Anya begins to incorporate Verasha's teachings into her online persona, leading to a surge in popularity. However, as Anya delves deeper into the mysterious practices, she unwittingly unleashes an otherworldly entity that begins to manipulate her life and her videos. The film explores themes of fame, self-destruction, and the dangers of blindly following spiritual practices without understanding their true nature.

"Mind Body Spirit" effectively utilizes the found footage format to create a sense of immediacy and realism. The shaky camera work and intimate perspective heighten the tension and make the events on screen feel more visceral. The film also benefits from strong performances, particularly from Sarah J. Bartholomew as Anya. Her descent into obsession is both chilling and believable.

However, the film's reliance on jump scares and predictable plot twists can detract from its overall impact. Additionally, the ending feels somewhat rushed and leaves several questions unanswered. Despite these shortcomings, "Mind Body Spirit" offers a thought-provoking commentary on the influencer age and the dangers of unchecked ambition. It's a chilling reminder that the pursuit of fame and fortune can come at a steep price, especially when it involves delving into the unknown.

This was recommended to me by a few people on some Facebook groups, so I decided to give it a chance as I love found footage movies. The movie started pretty interesting, the set design was okay and the actor didn't really annoy me which was good enough for me to stick around. But then it kinda started repeating itself, the acting switched from acceptable to irritating (which could be purposefully done but I doubt it) and the movie itself started having an identity crisis. It was like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be, a found footage film or a regular movie with cinematic shots. The camera movements in many scenes made no sense whatsoever as realistically there was nobody around to move it like that. I was constantly asking myself "WHO is moving the camera????" which took me out of the movie in most of these shots. It was so blatantly obvious attempt of the director trying too hard to be cinematic. In the end, we got a jumbled mess that is hard to call it as a fine example of a found footage movie. Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this film. It's nothing you haven't seen before. It's not scary, it's not really found footage and it's not cleverly done whatsoever.

Found footage is a favourite choice for film-makers with miniscule budgets because the medium lends itself well to thrifty movie-making. You can get away with not showing the monster clearly; not worrying too much about mise en scène; not having flashy special effects. This is largely what makes found footage work: it's raw, unfiltered and, above all, it feels genuine.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing number of found footage films where the creators have opted for the genre to save money, without actually considering what makes an FF film work.

Mind Body Spirit is one if these films. Ostensibly a collection of recordings from a wannabe YouTube star making wellness videos, the film falls at the first hurdle by completely undermining the idea that this is anything but a low-budget film.

It breaks a cardinal sin of Found Footage by having a soundtrack. There is ambient music and non-diagetic sound throughout, which immediately makes the film seem completely disingenuous. The filmmakers seem to have added it because, y'know, that's what happens in scary movies, forgetting that this is meant to be a series of candid, unedited recordings from an amateur filmmaker.

Then there are scenes which seem to be showing what's going on in the protagonists head, despite the fact that it makes no sense that the camera would capture them.

There was the scene with the "string", which featured such laughably unrealistic and entirely unnecessary special effects, it brought the while scene to a grinding halt.

And there are all the scenes where the camera moves in it's own, with no explanation, in just the right way to capture things in a cinematic way.

If you're going to make a found footage film, every single attempt you make to be more cinematic weakens the authenticity, and ultimately just reminds the viewer that they're watching a zero-budget indy movie.

This could have been good but the execution was really poor. The main actor was not intriguing at all and the story was a bit basic. You can have one but not both. If the main actor gave an incredible performance I could excuse the story being weak. But that was not even close to the case. She was dry. Although I could see her getting better.

I was even interested to see where they went with the actual horror and, instead of bringing it home, they pulled the cheap trick of letting the ONE scene of violence happen off camera after giving us really tame glimpses of a shoddy ghost story.

Lame movie that came off like a freshman year in film school project that resulted in a C-.

To my delight, I was treated to this film as the opening night film at the Freak Show Horror Film Festival. With a few exceptions here and there I can say with great passion that I am not a fan of the found footage genre, a genre that has its value in the genre but one that I find repetitive throughout and there always comes a point where I can't find justification in the characters' continued use of a camera outside of the need to carry forward a film for another 70 minutes.

Mind Body Spirit does what few in the genre have managed to do in creating a clever use of the camera and one that justifies its continued use and allows us, without giving spoilers, to not only view this piece through the eyes of our protagonist but as voyeurs as well, looking in on something truly frightening that we shouldn't be looking in on.

There are so few performances here in this one, with Sarah J. Bartholomew expertly carrying the bulk of the film on her shoulders, oftentimes being the only character we see on screen for extended periods of time. Madi Bready offers a strong supporting performance as an overly arrogant influencer and, with the little she has on screen, Anna Knigge also manages a sharp performance that feels emotional and grounded enough in its minimal appearance that it manages to pull the viewer in and make us care for the troubled separation of mother and daughter.

The scares are genuinely impactful, relying on clever camera work and a keen eye rather than jump scares and heavy gore with a minimalist score that never overstays its welcome and never comes too soon.

Overall, I've been to many festivals and seen many films at these festivals and I've never felt so compelled to run to IMDb and leave a review for one of them. This one is different. It's competently made and shows true artistic merit. Flock to this one when it's available. It's most certainly a top tier showcase of indie filmmaking.

That was awful! Don't waste your time for this! 0 of 10! Please everyone go watch something else instead of this! Bad acting, bad recording ( Why should filming a movie in 2023 be so weak and bad? ), bad story!( The story was very pointless ) The writers of this movie just wasted their own money! I hope they don't make another movie like this again! ( Why should there be an advertisement in the movie? ) This was neither scary nor psychological! I don't understand how people gave this movie a high score and praised it! If you are reading this comment, do not watch this movie under any circumstances.

Trying to get her channel started, an aspiring yoga teacher sets out to record a new video series for her followers which soon introduces her to a special series of yoga instructions that soon turns her life upside down as she tries to get the secrets within the teachings unleashed and shared.

This was a frustrating and somewhat underwhelming genre effort. One of the only positive points on display is the simple setup that allows this one to go about offering a showcase for her psychological breakdown. The chipper and eagerness to display her passion in the initial videos we see of her channel make the gradual descent into the later stages far more overt and ominous as this one introduces the series of writings that fuel her passion into the supernatural. That discovery and obsession with trying to uncover their meaning leads to her physical and mental decline over the course of the film as her deteriorating relationships and strong supernatural overtones present give this some fine positives. There are some issues with this one holding it back. Among its biggest issues is the fact that there's just nothing that interesting or chilling happening with what's going on. Forced into the situation where the purpose for creating the channel, what it means to her, and what the overall point of going for the found-footage route was supposed to do here with the only real hint of purpose coming from a phone call with her mom, it leaves the film struggling to maintain a sense of terror here without knowing what's going on. As we don't know much about anything, this one never feels all that threatening as it tends to end up revolving around nothing but her doing bizarre stretches or complaining about something happening to her. That leads into the main issue where it's just dragged out and overlong past the point of interest and ends up feeling like an anthology short stretched out to a feature length. The lack of information on the purpose behind anything offers just mind-numbing sequences that repeat on end about her stretching, going through her poses, and generally getting more deranged over time which is what causes this to be just immensely maddening how nothing's going differently as we see her going insane trying to figure out a riddle that's obviously not going to end well. With this also managing to bring about some frustrating lapses in the rules of found-footage and how everything is filmed, there's just not much to hold this one along.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

I really enjoyed this horror film. I like suspense but without the gore. Now this did have a bit of peek thru your fingers gore but it didn't last long. It was creative, creepy and surprisingly funny! Especially the "commercials"!!!! Slow the movie down long enough to check out the ingredients of the rthenergy drink. I have been in the fitness industry over 20 years and the characters were a spot on farce of a yoga instructor and influencer. Anya (Sarah) did a great job transforming from sweet, innocent yoga instructor to.... Well no spoilers here. The filming was creative and special effects a little too believable. I definitely recommend this movie especially if you are a yoga instructor/student or influencer! Fun and creepy!

I think its an effective film, if you like horror with cultism or sort of devil summoning. It works overall with some interesting editing and sound. The main actress is really effective with good energy and a nice voice. She has her video blog and horrific things happen around her, as you read. It's got a nice feeling of interesting with out worrying too much about the story which is kind of really simple. Just a blog devoted to devil summoning and random demon events, but I think its sound and intermittent editing of scenes make it move really well. It could be too comical for some, maybe she makes too many small jokes and is goofy or silly but if you can handle that bit of fun you can enjoy the slow roll of horror scenes that follow. I hope so they are worth it!

Mind Body Spirit is predominantly a one woman show and what a show it is!

It's a story about a wannabe yoga influencer who inherits her grandmother's house. She creates a video diary of her ritualized "journey" to her authentic self. Unfortunately, the trip is not what she was hoping for as dead grandma has other plans .... And they are terrifying.

Sarah J. Bartholomew did an amazing job portraying a rather lost and gullible Anya. There's not much of a backstory but what little is provided tells the audience everything we need to know about Anya, her family and why things are about to go very, very awry.

The way they shot the film was impressive too. The way the camera follows Anya contributes to a feel of malevolence as does the lingering silences that occur as Anya's "journey" progresses.

It was well worth the watch. Check it out.

Another film focussing on nauseating self-centred social media influencers. Another "found footage" film that brings nothing new or interesting...potentially even less than the minimum you'd expect.

At points it seems like it's trying to being satirical about how pretentious, ostentatious and vapid influencers are, but it's not done well if that was a motive of the writers as it would be missed by most viewers as the fake product placements ads almost glorify them.

The story itself is rather hollow. While there's some attempt to tie it to ancient slavic rituals of the main character's grandmother and ancestors, there's no depth to it at all, or any real back-story, and is merely a minor attempt to create the basis for the "creepy old lady in the dark" trope.

Anya starts to explore her Slavic ancestry after moving into her inherited grandmother's house and finds a book left by her grandmother with mysterious rituals. She decides these rituals make better content than the usual yoga instructions she has tried to build an online following with.

Good ideas, the film keeps your attention throughout.

But the acting is so-so and the different themes don't quite fit together. Online yoga and the shallowness of the influencer culture is one important layer, which could have been explored a lot more. The Russian yoga traditions, with such luminaries as the Roerich couple, is hinted at, but largely absent.

So, I have a theory about how the ideas behind this film came together. The writers discussed how creepy yoga can actually be (strange body stretching, weird postures and falsely smiling faces). They googled yoga and found Agni Yoga, the Russian variety, as well as the discussions about cultural appropriation and inauthenticity. Without doing more research than that, they put this film together. That would be the explanation to why the film lacks a satisfying whole and is rather a mishmash of stuff related to the word Yoga.

Again though, a quick and attention-grabbing flick.