Hunting Matthew Nichols (2026)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, April 10

R Running Time: 89 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

Built on a microbudget, and withstanding a shaky start, Hunting Matthew Nichols indicates that first-time director Markian Tarasiuk has great instincts and potential.
Without question, the film’s final 15 minutes are intense and build to one majorly effective jump scare. An effective payoff to a film trying to find itself along the way.
The use of Vancouver Island folklore adds a clever and unique element to the story being told.

NO

There is paying homage to The Blair Witch Project, and then there’s straight up lifting moments directly from the film. Some will be turned off by the film’s reliance on the 1999 film.
Hunting Matthew Nichols struggles to gain a foothold in the first act. Unfortunately, this creates a lot of obstacles for the film to overcome and patience may wear thin for some viewers.
Tarasiuk struggles in pacing his film, while also trying to do a lot here. Less can truly be so much more.

OUR REVIEW

One gnarly jump scare does not make an effective horror film, but writer/director Markian Tarasiuk shows flashes of real promise with Hunting Matthew Nichols, a scrappy, found-footage-style mockumentary/true crime-inspired thriller, opening wide for new independent distributor Dropshock Pictures.

Made for just under $350,000, Tarasiuk’s directorial debut treads familiar ground for anyone who has seen The Blair Witch Project. Like that film, Nichols follows a trio (one woman leading the investigation and two male videographers accompanying her) as they attempt to solve a local mystery. In Blair Witch, the three friends were attempting to determine the truth around an urban legend. Here, the focus takes a more personal approach. Tara (Miranda MacDougall) is attempting to find out what happened to her missing brother Matthew (James Ross) and his best friend Jordan (Issiah Bull Bear), who disappeared on Halloween night in 2001.

Now, more than two decades later, Tara is joined by Tarasiuk, playing a fictionalized version of himself, and videographer Ryan (Ryan Alexander McDonald, also playing himself). Initially resembling the appearance of a true crime documentary, utilizing interviews and talking heads to lay out its premise, the film ignites at a very slow pace - perhaps too slow for some viewers. The interviews come off a bit wooden and seem too perfect and staged, a bit inauthentic and clearly scripted.

Initially, Hunting Matthew Nichols feels contrived and forced.

As the film progresses however, it finds its rhythm. We learn that the boys were obsessed with The Blair Witch Project and wanted to become filmmakers themselves. A recovered camcorder shows footage of them recreating scenes from the film, but it also shows something disturbing that we are initially kept from seeing. Instead, Tarasiuk opts to show us the reactions of Tara, Ryan, and Markian watching the footage, a clever and effective to indicate the horrors found on that videotape.

Outside of the final sequence, perhaps the best moments come when an anthropologist tells us that Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, has its own history of folklore and grisly urban legends. He shares the story of Roy McKenzie, an infamous cannibal whose name carries the same mythological fears of creatures like the Wendigo or Skinwalkers.

But at this moment, I leaned forward in my chair. This scene finds Tarasiuk pivoting to a striking black-and-white animated sequence that livens up a rather monotonous, color-drained look for the film. As often happens, just when you think the film is running out of gas, Tarasiuk finds a way to slip in something quite interesting and hook you all over again.

All of this builds to a final 15-minute sequence designed to frighten and unsettle viewers. Digging deep in his appreciation for The Blair Witch Project, Tarasiuk shows us his obvious skills as a filmmaker in these moments. Honestly, the pieces are all here. The timing and pacing are what feels off.

A small film like this, securing a wide release in today’s theatrical landscape is absolutely a feat worth recognizing. The question becomes whether people will actually go and see it. Honestly, I’m not sure. The film is competing for the same audience that is likely checking out the higher-profile and showier Faces of Death, also opening this weekend.

Still, this is an ambitious effort - blending found-footage horror with a true crime documentary style, only to then try to scare the pants off of you. Tarasiuk, even when he falls short at times, uncovers something genuinely frightening in his intentional and purposeful slow burning journey into darkness.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Miranda MacDougall, Markian Tarasiuk, Christine Willes, Ryan Alexander McDonald, James Ross, Issiah Bull Bear, Lucy McNulty, Bernard Cuffling, Susinn McFarlen

Director: Markian Tarasiuk
Written by: Sean Oliver (screenplay), Markian Tarasiuk (story)
Release Date: April 10, 2026
Dropshock Pictures

Built on a microbudget, and withstanding a shaky start, Hunting Matthew Nichols indicates that first-time director Markian Tarasiuk has great instincts and potential.

Without question, the film’s final 15 minutes are intense and build to one majorly effective jump scare. An effective payoff to a film trying to find itself along the way.

The use of Vancouver Island folklore adds a clever and unique element to the story being told.

There is paying homage to The Blair Witch Project, and then there’s straight up lifting moments directly from the film. Some will be turned off by the film’s reliance on the 1999 film.

Hunting Matthew Nichols struggles to gain a foothold in the first act. Unfortunately, this creates a lot of obstacles for the film to overcome and patience may wear thin for some viewers.

Tarasiuk struggles in pacing his film, while also trying to do a lot here. Less can truly be so much more.