The Hem (2025) Review – Found Footage For The Easily Pleased

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing found footage horror movie The Hem (2025). You can find this on Tubi completely free as we speak.

Stop Me If You Have Heard This One…

If found footage horror comes in a multitude of different flavours, Tyler Russell’s The Hem (2025) would be vanilla. This is one of those movies that is made for the undemanding horror fan who appreciates familiarity and prefers limited surprises. That fact alone speaks to both its weaknesses and its strengths.

Russell previously directed the 2020 body-horror Cyst – unfortunately that was extremely lacklustre, too though it had a degree of b-movie charm to it. It did feature Greg Sestero, of The Room fame, as well, so that’s something. Unfortunately, The Hem doesn’t share that charm

A ‘spooky’ locations documentary crew make a dodgy deal with a redneck to investigate a North Texas church with a sordid past. The venue apparently played host to the fiery death of a bride-to-be, named Isabella, years before and is now haunted by her spirit. There’s only one rule: they have to be out by sundown; a rule that the group will evidently struggle to follow.

As you can see, it’s about as basic a found footage setup as you can possibly imagine. From The Blair Witch Project through to Grave Encounters and all the way up to today with films like House on Eden. This is probably the default backstory for the majority of shaky cam horror.

It starts off fairly promising

It starts off fairly promising; familiar but interesting. The atypical 4:3 aspect ratio sparks curiosity almost immediately. Is this set in the 90s? Are we going for some It Follows style modern-retro vibe? I could work with that. Well, not really as one character whips out a modern phone moments later. It’s just a stylistic choice; aesthetic cosplay, if you will. I don’t hate it. I’m more confused by it.

“The switch up acts as something of a narrative bump stop, as well. We are immediately taken from some very traditional, and fun, “characters interview the public” found footage stuff to a police station. There’s a fair bit of this flip flopping and it disrupts the flow enormously.”

This confusion only grows when the found footage scenes give way to a more traditional presentation with varying camera angles and heavy editing. What’s really strange about these scenes, is that they still appear to be filmed on very basic equipment.

They maintain both a handheld approach and the same 4:3 aspect. It’s jarring and the shaky cam feels less like a deliberate choice and more like a camera operator with a nervous disposition.

I’m not used to this. When a film bounces between found footage and traditional presentation – Destroy This Tape for example – there is normally a distinct switch up in filming style. It almost works to punctuate the disparate techniques. There’s none of that here and it’s a bit jarring.

The switch up acts as something of a narrative bump stop, as well. We are immediately taken from some very traditional, and fun, “characters interview the public” found footage stuff to a police station where detectives discuss an ongoing situation. There’s a fair bit of this flip flopping and it disrupts the flow enormously. I am not sure this whole hybrid found footage thing works.

A descent into the formulaic

The trip to the police station marks the end of that promising start and a descent into something altogether more formulaic. Our crew arrive at the church and the innovation evaporates almost immediately. This is as by-the-numbers as this type of horror gets.

Sure, this is a creepy location adorned with cobwebs, broken furniture, and everything you would expect from a building playing host to spooky shenanigans. But it’s nothing you haven’t seen before; that’s going to become a theme with this movie.

“This is less a secretive spirit and more a blushing bride ready for her close up. You’ll be seeing a lot of her and the ending will have you on first name terms.”

We get our first sighting of the ghostly antagonist almost immediately, setting the stage for what is about to come. This is less a secretive spirit and more a blushing bride ready for her close up. You’ll be seeing a lot of her and the ending will have you on first name terms.

Sadly becomes repetitive quickly

There’s nothing subtle about The Hem. It plays out like a fairground ghost house attraction with jump scares, fractured limbs, and myriad reasons to watch the background. This is proper ‘raid the Halloween costume department’ stuff too, and I can respect that. It just becomes so dull and repetitive, though. You could have fit the parts with substance into an action packed, 15 minute short.

Instead, we have 80 minutes of walking through rooms, revisiting rooms, and arguing. It gets old very quickly. Every other scene plays out like a set-piece following that same blueprint. There’s minimal deviation from the formula, the scares become predictable, and exposition is sparse at best. You can hardly blame anyone for picking up their phone when this repeats for the third or fourth time.

Found footage horror movies have a tendency to follow a very similar pattern. This can lead to them feeling generic and derivative. The need for a compelling story can’t be overstated. Without it, you are asking your viewers to invest in the mere suggestion that what is going on is scary.

“If your horror scenes aren’t top notch, you are asking a hell of a lot from the person watching. The Hem’s story is so thin on the ground and so poorly fleshed out that there is nothing to grab hold of. “

If your horror scenes aren’t top notch, you are asking a hell of a lot from the person watching. The Hem’s story is so thin on the ground and so poorly fleshed out that there is nothing to grab hold of. Without that hook, scenes of people wandering around in the dark are purely that; it’s just people walking around in the dark.

Acting is actually pretty great, despite the issues

The logic fails begin to raise their ugly heads early, as well. You know characters are going to make stupid decisions, it’s a hallmark of the genre, but it’s frustrating when it just leads to more of the same. It has a trickle down effect on the acting, as well.

Everyone is pretty damn solid, here. I think Savannah Rae Collins has everything you need to succeed as an actor and Jeni Robins was really good, too. Both are extremely natural and comfortable on screen. The story lets them down, though. Certain scenes force them to dialogue around utterly ridiculous plot points which undermines their performances.

I actually felt for Collins when she was forced to rant about the situation they were in. It just forces the viewer to ask the question “why can’t the characters simply force their way through the ropey metal shutter or look for another way in?”. It’s farcical.

The movie pivots into police bodycam footage for the final stanza and it’s more of the same. Repetitive walking through dark rooms and a few jump scares that don’t really land. A disappointing way to end a disappointing film. If you are looking for some genuinely great found footage, check out our list of the 50 Greatest Found Footage Horror Movies Ever.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.