Kristy

Kristy is a 2014 American found-footage horror film directed by Oliver Blackburn, based on a script by Andy Paterson. The film takes place during the Thanksgiving break at an American college campus, where most students have left for the holiday. Sarah (Elizabeth Mitchell) returns to the campus to spend the break alone, having missed the festivities of the semester's end. Upon her arrival, Sarah discovers an old film camera in her college dorm's shared room. Deciding to pass the time and document her stay by recording her own footage, Sarah starts exploring the campus with the camera. At first, everything seems quiet and normal; the empty college landscape gives a sense of isolation, with the wind and the trees as her sole companions. However, things take a disturbing turn when Sarah notices she is being watched. As her fear intensifies, we see her recording the same scenes repeatedly, often from different angles. It is unclear whether Sarah or the outcasts are the ones manipulating the situation. The arrival of Kristy (Hannah Emily Anderson) on the college grounds sets off a chain of events leading to a descent into madness. Kristy is portrayed as a troubled individual, displaying signs of psychological issues and social anxiety. Despite her awkward demeanor, Kristy begins showing a keen interest in Sarah's life, as though attempting to make friends or form a bond. The initial encounters between Sarah and Kristy are awkward yet harmless. However, things rapidly escalate, indicating a more sinister intent from Kristy and her unseen accomplices. What begins with mild pranks and harassment gradually descends into acts of aggressive harassment, as Kristy's presence begins to disrupt the sense of isolation around Sarah. The college atmosphere is now one of dread and anxiety, with the main female protagonist struggling to cope with the pressure from Kristy's actions. As tensions rise, the narrative employs found-footage conventions, incorporating elements of ambiguity and uncertainty. Scenes from the security footage and Sarah's own recordings create a disjointed narrative structure. The disjuncture between Sarah's recollections of events and what she has captured on film adds to the film's overall unease and sense of chaos. A significant turning point in the movie is when Sarah starts to uncover evidence of Kristy's accomplices. It becomes apparent that Kristy's behavior is merely a small piece of a larger plan, orchestrated by those who are determined to isolate Sarah from others on campus. This twist raises the stakes for Sarah, as she is forced to confront her deepest fears about being alone in an isolated place. The title "Kristy" suggests that the titular character is the primary figure of the outcasts, although it is clear from the narrative that Kristy is merely one part of the larger cast of antagonists. The title, nonetheless, emphasizes the significance that Kristy holds within the overall storyline. Kristy's intentions are portrayed as an extension of the anxiety that often comes with feelings of isolation. By taking control of the narrative and targeting Sarah, Kristy appears to be expressing her own deep fears about social incompatibility, a theme the movie explores at a deeper level. In its portrayal of isolated settings and a descent into madness, Kristy draws on classic horror sub-genres, including found-footage movies and slasher films. Nonetheless, the movie also ventures into more psychological elements, where the line between reality and paranoia gets blurred. The film concludes abruptly with the arrival of the college security, a relief for Sarah who had been struggling to outwit her tormentors. As is typical with the found-footage format, some aspects of the narrative are left unresolved, further amplifying the unsettling atmosphere left in the viewer's mind after the movie ends. Kristy is a tense, claustrophobic thriller with a focus on character dynamics and psychological suspense, rather than relying solely on the horror elements of the narrative. The film uses the found-footage format to its advantage, employing it to tell a gripping and suspenseful story of the struggles of one young woman's desperate fight for survival against her unseen, manipulative tormentors.