When Gary Hinge fails to return home from a backcountry hiking expedition, his sister alerts the police. When authorities examine his truck, they find several prints that don’t match his.
Using a pseudo-documentary format, this found footage mystery horror is terrifying. Based in Nevada, it eagerly utilizes the state’s sinister reputation for conspiracies and fuses it with its menacing geographical characteristics to create the perfect setting for unnerving storytelling.
What Happened to Gary Hinge?
Gary Hinge is a self-proclaimed survivalist who frequently ventures into the wilderness of Nevada for days at a time to document his experiences. He often hosts YouTube videos detailing these trips, but after one expedition, he claimed to have been attacked by a person wearing a mask. While many dismissed his claim as paranoid, he was pressured by viewers to return to the location and provide proof. He agreed and published a video in which he stated that he would not reveal the exact location for fear of enticing others to the area and risk their lives.
During his last trip, Gary hiked into the Great Basin Desert and set out toward a cabin he had visited during a previous excursion. He filmed his journey, but after three days, he reported that he could smell burning and noticed a trail of bare footprints in the dirt. He also said that he felt watched and followed on his way back to his truck.
The police classified Gary’s disappearance as a missing person report and started investigating the matter. Initially, they assumed that he was lost, but after a week of fruitless searching, they began to suspect that he had been murdered by the mysterious attacker. The investigation was halted when a group of hikers discovered a backpack with Gary’s severed hand inside, holding his video camera.
Although director Dutch Marich did not allude to it, the film’s ending feels very similar to the 2014 disappearance of another hiking-related YouTuber named Kenny Veach. Veach, who was known online as snakebitmgee, was an active member of hiking content communities and, like Gary Hinge, was pressured by his devoted fanbase to return to the site of a puzzling find to prove that he wasn’t lying.
While it may be tempting to attribute the attack in Horror in the High Desert to a supernatural being guarding a sacred location, this explanation doesn’t explain the cruelty of the zombie-like person’s appearance, the smell of smoke, the dizzying music, or the sense of impending doom. Furthermore, Hinge made references to Native American artifacts and closed mine tunnels earlier in the film, so a ghost from the area’s past might have seen him as an unwanted intruder who needed to be stopped.
Did Gary Hinge Disappear?
As a self-described “outdoors and survival enthusiast,” Gary Hinge was known to document many of his multiday wilderness excursions. He frequently uploaded videos to YouTube and also made appearances on podcasts. He had some 50,000 followers and was a well-known figure in the hiking community. While most of his fans were genuinely concerned for his safety, a few were convinced that he was hiding something sinister.
Despite an exhaustive months-long police search, no trace of Gary Hinge was ever found in the Nevada desert. Three years later, a documentary crew has tracked down his family and friends in the hopes of digging up new leads on his disappearance.
The film, Horror in the High Desert, stars Eric Mencis as Gary Hinge and attempts to use fictional talking head interviews and the found footage narrative style to create a compelling documentary. It aims to capture the viewer’s attention by creating a sense of unbearable anticipation and tapping into our primal fear of darkness.
In one of the final videos he published, Gary discusses an out-of-the-ordinary experience that occurred during his last excursion. During this trip, he noticed a strange burning odor and discovered a path of barefoot footprints that led to a mysterious cabin. Gary claims that he felt as if he was being watched and followed by someone, and that the air in the vicinity smelled of smoke.
After the video was posted, several people expressed concerns about Gary’s account of the incident. Some users demanded that he provide proof of his claims while others challenged him to return to the location and prove his story. However, Gary vowed not to reveal the location of the cabin for fear of enticing inexperienced hikers into harm’s way.
While the documentary has some genuine credibility issues, it does manage to capture some of the audience’s attention by using the found footage format to elicit a sense of unease and danger. While it isn’t the most terrifying movie that has been released in recent times, it does have a few good, creepy moments and succeeds in making the viewer feel as if they are in the desert with Gary, observing his every move.
Was Gary Hinge Ever Found?
In the faux-documentary/found footage style of YouTube vlogs and pseudo-documentaries, writer/director Dutch Marich uses talking heads, drone and fictional found footage to track Gary Hinge’s disappearance. During the Covid-19 pandemic Gary Hinge was an outdoors and survival enthusiast who had built a large online following for his videos.
When he disappeared while hiking in the Nevada High Desert, it triggered a massive months-long police search. Police based their search on GPS coordinates and involved local and state police, park rangers and even volunteer groups who covered vast areas on foot, helicopter and with the use of drones, but they were never able to find any trace or indication of where Gary could be.
A few days after his disappearance, Gary published a video of his last excursion where he discussed an out-of-the-ordinary experience that left him shaken: his hike had lasted three days and towards the end of that third day he could smell smoke. He followed the scent and discovered a cabin with a smoke-stained chimney, but as soon as he got close to it he had a strong sense of impending danger that made him leave and set up camp far away from the cabin. He reported finding a trail of barefoot footprints and feeling watched and even followed on his way back to his truck.
While the police continued to investigate, Gal Roberts began digging into Gary’s social media and found a promising clue in his video blog where he documented his hiking and survival adventures under the alias of “Scorpion Sam.” However, close friends and family members were unaware that he had built up such an extensive online following.
In the video Gary uploaded that final time, he was still feeling paranoid about the deserted cabin and was unsure if it had been abandoned or not. However, when he was just about to enter the cabin a disfigured monstrous stranger was seen attacking him, severing his arm. As he ran out of the cabin, Gary shouted to the viewer to come out and help him, but when no one answered his call he collapsed in the desert and died.
What Happened to Gary Hinge in Horror in the High Desert?
As the police struggled to solve the case, social media influencers and vloggers took matters into their own hands. Using the pseudo-documentary format and found footage, they started searching for Gary Hinge’s final journey. This ultimately led to the discovery of his mutilated hand and a strange cabin in Nevada’s high desert.
With the revelation that Gary’s murderer used a mask and Native American artifacts to kill him, many were convinced that he was a supernatural creature. Others felt that his killer was simply a human who had become detached from society. Either way, the film’s open ending left a lot of unanswered questions.
Horror in the High Desert is a slow-burn film that perfectly uses its mockumentary structure to build up suspense. The made-up talking heads and the found footage narrative technique that was popularized by The Blair Witch Project combine to create a sense of dread that will have viewers on edge.
As the film moves from the interview scenes to the eventually-displayed retrieved footage of Gary’s fatal hike, its true crime tone quickly morphs into pure horror. The shaky camera work, burned and blurry infrared images, and creepy background music combine to create an atmosphere that is both shocking and terrifying.
The uncovered video shows that Gary was attacked by a man with severe physical deformities who was wearing a mask. The attacker attempts to run Gary down with a machete and is almost successful in doing so. Luckily, Gary is able to shoot the intruder with his pistol before being killed.
Despite the shocking ending, the film is actually pretty well done overall. The acting is great from Eric Mencis and the use of found footage works extremely well to keep the audience on edge. The story itself is also quite interesting and a little different from most of the other films that have used this same type of narrative. It leaves enough unanswered questions to make the audience shiver and it is definitely a must-see for any horror fan.
