The Guardian · California · Original story
Tribe review – compelling, unsettling search for a lost sect in the California mountains
Dan Asma’s impressive debut feature follows a retired professor, played by the director himself, whose research leads him to Lovecraftian terrors
Dan Asma’s superbly unsettling debut feature could well be California’s answer to The Blair Witch Project, as it follows a retired professor protagonist heading out into the Cuyamaca mountains and into the bowels of Mount Shasta on the trail of a lost sect. Updating and complicating the found-footage movie for the era of too-many browser tabs, it comes with an icy Lovecraftian hint of terrors beyond and packs a hefty eschatological kick.
Our intrepid academic Devin (Asma) has bitten off more than he can chew, judging by the riverbed of bloodshot veins disfiguring his face and failing mental faculties that have left him unable to drive his car out of the wilderness. Still able to access his past recordings, he jogs his own memories about what led him out there in the first place: ex-wife Kate (Nicole Jones) dropping off old camcorder excerpts of college hangouts with pal Charlie (Keaton Asma), who recently killed himself. An orphaned member of the mysterious Church of Heaven’s Light cult, as a child Charlie was found staggering out of the Cuyamacas alone – but brought with him a wild cosmic pontification or two about superior beings stalking mankind.
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Phil Hoad · Mon, May 18, 2026, 5:00 AM
California | The Guardian
Dan Asma’s impressive debut feature follows a retired professor, played by the director himself, whose research leads him to Lovecraftian terrors
Dan Asma’s superbly unsettling debut feature could well be California’s answer to The Blair Witch Project, as it follows a retired professor protagonist heading out into the Cuyamaca mountains and into the bowels of Mount Shasta on the trail of a lost sect. Updating and complicating the found-footage movie for the era of too-many browser tabs, it comes with an icy Lovecraftian hint of terrors beyond and packs a hefty eschatological kick.
Our intrepid academic Devin (Asma) has bitten off more than he can chew, judging by the riverbed of bloodshot veins disfiguring his face and failing mental faculties that have left him unable to drive his car out of the wilderness. Still able to access his past recordings, he jogs his own memories about what led him out there in the first place: ex-wife Kate (Nicole Jones) dropping off old camcorder excerpts of college hangouts with pal Charlie (Keaton Asma), who recently killed himself. An orphaned member of the mysterious Church of Heaven’s Light cult, as a child Charlie was found staggering out of the Cuyamacas alone – but brought with him a wild cosmic pontification or two about superior beings stalking mankind.
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