Gary Hinge was an outdoors enthusiast who posted his hikes on YouTube. On one of his videos he mentioned a cabin in the desert that gave him a sense of impending doom. He disappeared shortly afterwards.
Horror in the High Desert is a pseudo-documentary about the disappearance of outdoor survivalist Gary Hinge (Eric Mencis). This indie film uses fictional talking head interviews and the found footage narrative technique popularized by The Blair Witch Project to build up tension.
Background
Gary Hinge is an outdoorsy survivalist who regularly heads into the desert on survival expeditions for days at a time. He records his adventures on a popular video blog under a pseudonym, and as a result, has thousands of followers. During one excursion, Gary tells his viewers that he came across a cabin that gave him a sense of impending doom and that he fled the area immediately.
He never returns, and a search party is eventually called in after Gary fails to turn up. His roommate Simon and his sister Beverly begin to worry, especially when they discover that he’s not answering their calls. They soon learn that he’s gone back to the desert, intending to revisit the cabin that he spoke of in his last video.
Horror in the High Desert is a faux documentary that uses a mix of fictional talking head interviews and beautiful landscapes footage to create an atmosphere of creeping dread. The use of shaky camera work and creepy background sounds is particularly effective in generating a feeling of impending doom. The film also makes use of a technique known as found footage, in which the audience is positioned in the position of the character and has to endure the events unfolding onscreen.
While director Marich does not explicitly mention it, the story appears to be inspired by the real-life disappearance of hiker Kenny Veach in 2014. Much like Gary, Veach was a popular content creator who had thousands of followers and frequently headed out into the Nevada desert for multi-day survival excursions. He was also an active member of online hiking communities and, similarly to Gary, was pressured by his followers to return to a mysterious cabin he had spoken of in a previous video.
As he nears the unsettling cabin, Gary begins to record his surroundings. He soon notices that a human-like figure is approaching from the shadows, and he panics. As the creature approaches, it slashes at Gary’s hand with a sharp object, and the camera stops recording. His body is later discovered by campers, save for his mutilated camera-clutching hand.
Cast
Gary Hinge is a YouTube adventurer who goes on survival quests in the desert. He often blogs about his adventures. On his last hike, he discovered a small cabin in the wilderness. He recorded a video telling his followers that it had a strange, eerie feel to it and that he felt a sense of impending doom and dread. He never returned home. His sister Beverly (Tonya Williams Ogden) reported him missing and authorities began searching for him. They found his rucksack, but his body was never located. Campers did find his cleanly severed hand, however.
The film’s commitment to a pseudo-documentary format is somewhat distracting from its horror aspects. The main cast consists of talking heads interviews with the sister of Gary, his roommate, a private investigator, and a journalist. The performances from these actors are competent, but the film never feels as real as it could have been.
Unlike most modern found footage horror films, Horror in the High Desert doesn’t rely on a single element to scare its audience. Its pacing is slow and deliberate, and long stretches of intimidating emptiness add to its creep factor. The filmmakers utilize simple techniques, such as ominous music being played backwards and shaky night-cam footage, to create an atmosphere of dread.
While the film is based on an actual disappearance of an outdoorsman, it has become known as a parable about the dangers of social media influencers. Gary’s story mirrors that of another vlogger who disappeared in 2014, Kenny Veach (aka snakebitmgee). Veach was an outdoor enthusiast who frequently vlogged about his hiking trips. He also claimed that he had discovered a cave on one of his expeditions and later went missing. He was pressured by his devoted subscriber base to return to the location and prove that he was not lying.
The movie follows the search for Gary Hinge after he disappears during a survival quest in the Nevada desert. Despite the efforts of police, his family and friends, and local residents, he has not been found. The film reveals that the disappearance is not due to a natural cause, but rather, a supernatural one.
Reactions
In the end, Gary was a man who was driven to prove himself to strangers on social media. This need to impress drove him into a dangerous area that would ultimately kill him. His death is a tragic reminder that you should always trust your instincts.
While the film does not explicitly state that it is based on a real-life event, there are many uncanny parallels between this movie and the 2014 disappearance of YouTuber Kenny Veach. Like the character of Gary Hinge, Veach was an outdoor enthusiast who made hiking content on YouTube. He was also an active member of hiking-related online communities and forums. Like Hinge, Veach was pressured by his devoted following to revisit a mysterious find in order to show that he was telling the truth. While there is no evidence of foul play, Veach was never heard from again.
Just like the movie, Veach’s mysterious disappearance led to intense speculation. Some of the theories included the possibility that he had found hidden military secrets or secret government documents in a cave he visited on a hike. Others speculated that he had been attacked by a supernatural entity or was killed by another hiker. However, it is now believed that he simply disappeared because of a combination of factors, including altitude sickness and exposure to toxins.
As the movie progresses, the audience begins to realize that the uncovered video from Gary’s trip is far more disturbing than anyone could have imagined. The scene depicts dead animals and snakes attacking the hiker, as well as a haunting desert landscape that appears to change but really isn’t. This foreshadows the many attacks that Gary will experience on his journey. However, one of the most disturbing scenes comes at the very end when a deformed monstrous figure is seen severs Gary’s arm with a knife. This is a powerful and horrifying scene that will leave you with a chill for weeks after watching the movie.
Conclusions
Three years ago, outdoors and survival enthusiast Gary Hinge went missing in the Nevada desert. Despite a massive months-long police search, no trace of him has ever been found. Now, a documentary crew is interviewing his friends and family in the hopes of digging up any new leads. What they find is a shocking conclusion.
Director Dutch Marich delivers a bone-chilling follow up to his horror debut REAPTOWN with HORROR IN THE HIGH DESERT. This part mockumentary/part found footage film starts off slow with a series of talking heads discussing the case. However, as the retrieved footage begins to show up on screen, the film really begins to pick up steam.
This tense story revolves around an outdoorsy survivalist named Gary Hinge, who goes missing after recording a mysterious encounter in the Nevada desert. The movie is set in Nevada, and it eagerly makes use of the state’s sinister reputation for conspiracies. It also adds its gloomy geographical attributes to create the perfect atmosphere for unnerving storytelling.
While the police were initially focused on finding Gary, they quickly realized that the situation was more complicated than they thought. Several fingerprints that did not match John Doe’s were found on the truck, and a trail of barefoot footprints was uncovered. Additionally, the mutilation of Gary’s body was suspicious. Despite all of this, no database had a matching profile for the mystery man. Detective Bill Salerno started to look into Gary’s social media.
Gary was a vlogger who used his website to post videos of his hiking and survival adventures. He had a large following that followed him on social media and looked up to him for his expertise in the outdoors. Moreover, Gary was openly gay in a small town where homosexuality is not well-received. This caused him to feel like a social pariah and made him rely on his blog for emotional fulfillment.
When he discovered the strange cabin in the desert, he recorded it in an effort to prove that it was real. He left the scene soon afterward as he was overcome with a sense of impending doom. However, he later returned to the cabin in an attempt to capture it on video and was murdered by someone whose presence he did not understand. It is reasonable to speculate that his attacker was a supernatural being who was guarding a sacred location.
