You would think that a joint effort by five writer-directors would be a disaster. Apart from the typical anthology, I’ve never even heard of a film that had five writer-directors working together on a project. Yet that’s what David Blair, Nathaniel Peterson, Adam Pitman, Andrew Rizzo and Adam Stilwell have done with The Triangle. That aspect alone would peak anyone’s interest, just to see how bad (or good) of a film like this would be. Then you find out that it’s another “found footage” film, and that kind of takes a bit of the fun out of it. I mean, what more can be done with a subgenre like this? Still, it’d be interesting to see just how they managed to edit things into coherent film (which apparently took the group three years to do). And, being that I haven’t seen a film about cults in a while, it was a case of “Why not?”.

Adam (Adam Stilwell) receives a postcard from Nathaniel (Nathaniel Peterson), an estranged friend now living in a commune named Ragnarok in a secluded area of Montana. The postcard ominously ends with the words “WE NEED YOUR HELP”, but also invites Adam and his documentary friends to film at Ragnarok. So the group heads to Montana. Upon arriving at the commune, they’re greeted by the leader of the commune (Andrew Rizzo), who invites them to stay a while and observe the happenings. The residents of the commune have chosen to give up their regular lives for the simplicity of nature, and don’t take kindly to being filmed. Eventually, the documentarians are accepted. However, things aren’t as great in the commune as the filmmakers are led to believe. There’s a mysterious rock formation off in the distance that has some weird noises coming from it, and the residents of the commune soon begin to act strangely…

In spite of the five directors (not that that’s a bad thing), one of the film’s strongest points was its presentation. Apart from the gorgeous scenery of isolated Montana, the film makes use of split screen techniques to show off the four camera viewpoints. Truthfully, it’s a fine line to use this technique correctly without overwhelming viewers, but the group manage to pull it off more than once. The quality of these shots is also top notch. There’s little of the way of an amateur feel to the presentation, and it feels very much to be a documentary when you first start watching the film. I’m impressed!

This is also not a “style over substance” film, either. The acting by all participants just adds to the authentic feel of the film. The performances feel very natural and not at all scripted. In fact, delving into the production side of things, it becomes even more amazing when you learn how the five directors put together this commune, assigned roles and came up with backstories for the characters. This was done without doing the traditional work of assigning lines for the actors to recite, leaving the reactions to be genuine. Tying all of this together is the eerie and ominous feeling that one usually expects when it comes to cult films. It’s not directly in your face, but lingers just below the surface, and only gets stronger as the film progresses.

In spite of the impressive amount of work put into and managing to get this film to work, I do have a minor qualm about the conclusion to the film. After all the buildup of the previous 87 minutes, the final moments go the full doco-drama route, leaving a rather abrupt ending for viewers to digest. It’s still a creepy conclusion, but it feels unsatisfying from what preceded it, especially since up to that point it’s felt like a documentary rather than going the docu-drama route.

Regardless, the ending doesn’t break what is a well-constructed and well-acted film. Again, it’s hard to believe that there was a polished film to come out of what would seem like a “too many cooks” situation. But that’s what The Triangle has turned out to be: a film that successfully manages to wring a unique idea out of a tired subgenre, and make it fascinating to watch. Definitely do give it a watch if you have the opportunity, and are in the mood for something that successfully bucks the trend of found-footage film ideas.