Cinematic marvels like Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey and James Cameron‘s Avatar films are pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished with cameras and demand to be seen on the biggest screen possible. However, while that may be great for a big-budget blockbuster, sometimes the horror genre is at its best when it’s kept lo-fi. The Blair Witch Project, Lake Mungo, Skinamarink, and more have all managed to frighten on limited budgets, using a low-tech approach to their advantage to create eerie atmospheres. At this year’s Fantastic Fest, prolific filmmaker James Cullen Bressack will return to his grungy horror roots with his own lo-fi flick, I Have Proof, a psychological descent into madness shot entirely on VHS that will play with viewers’ sense of reality with its format.
We’re excited to include the film as part of Collider’s Exclusive Preview series ahead of its world premiere, and, as part of that, we can share a new look at the man at the center of this downward spiral, Alex. Played by Ford v. Ferrari alum Larsen Deane, Alex does, as the title says, have proof. What he has proof of, or what it means, however, is something that you need to see. Bressack is keeping the details close to the vest, but what I Have Proof does promise is a horror experience that is deeply disturbing, rough around the edges, and absolutely not for everyone. It’s made with grit and a lived-in feeling thanks to old home videotapes the director recorded over to keep the production moving, haunting each frame with the memories of what once was. Deane is also joined by Lilly Van der Meer, Augie Duke, B.J. Hendricks, Kelly Lynn Reiter, and David Josh Lawrence.
In our shot, Alex channels Wile E. Coyote and holds up a sign for those watching, reading “No one believes me.” There’s nothing funny about it, though, as there’s a look of deep desperation on his face, as if he feels completely alone in the horrifying knowledge he’s burdened with. The grainy look combined with the surrounding darkness makes the scene even more ominous, as if the candle he holds is the only thing keeping him from being swallowed whole by the shadows. Yet, there may be questions about how trustworthy a narrator Alex really is, as his POV is what the film primarily relies on. In I Have Proof, “reality is never quite as it seems.”
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Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
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🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
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01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
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02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
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03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
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04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
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05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
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06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
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07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
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08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
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Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
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Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
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He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
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But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
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You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
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The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
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You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
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‘I Have Proof’ Is a Return to Horror a Decade in the Making for Bressack
Bressack is a low-budget filmmaking machine, though it’s been a minute since he’s entered the horror realm. His most recent film, the Dane Cook-led Boris Is Dead, was a comedic crime caper, and before that, he’s worked with a few big names in the action genre, including Mel Gibson for the cyber thriller Hot Seat andJean-Claude Van Damme for the all-out war that is Darkness of Man. The decision to return to the macabre and make a found footage feature that actually felt dangerous again was born from his desire to make something real and revisit the work that made viewers fans of his. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, he broke down that feeling and why he felt now was the perfect time for something more analog and rough to counter the rise of AI.
“This is me going back to raw, stripped-down horror. I saw a review on Letterboxd from someone who liked my early work and said they missed when I use to make grungy horror films. It stuck with me. It pushed me to return to that space and make something that feels immediate and real for those that watched my films in the beginning. We’re leaning fully into analog to create something AI couldn’t replicate and wouldn’t even know how to approach; something human and raw.”
I Have Proof world premieres at Fantastic Fest, which runs later this month from September 17 through 24 at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas. Check out our exclusive image above and stay tuned here at Collider for more early looks to celebrate 21 years of the film festival. Visit the official film guide for more information on everything coming to Fantastic Fest this year.
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