Nerdly » ‘Tribe’ Review

31st Jul2025

‘Tribe’ Review

by Dom Hastings

Stars: Nicole Jones, Keaton Asma, Tyona Bowman, Ray Buffer, Justina Biosah | Written and Directed by Dan Asma

“I’ve lost my mind.”

From the producer of Mind Body Spirit, comes a new horror… A fantastic and intriguing blend of documentary, found footage horror, and even adventure, Tribe is an effective torment.

Tribe opens with immediate curiosity: a quote on screen, an aerial shot of the West Coast Mountains, and concerning footage of Devin Adams, whose face looks to be succumbing to a disease or infection of sorts. Immediately after, we begin to see footage recorded from earlier in the year. Make sure you’re able to keep track of the events’ chronology and pay close attention to the screen/footage time stamps.

Devin, a retired professor, before things took a turn for the worse, was recording review videos for videography tech. Following a visit from Kate (Nicole Jones), Devin finds himself in possession of super old tape recordings from their days at school together alongside their former and somewhat bizarre friend, Charlie (Keaton Asma). The footage details conventional late-night student hangouts, but then the discussions get weird… Basically, Charlie was a bit of a cultist with an affiliation with the Church of Heaven’s Light. Devin – watching these for the first time – gathers the intrigue and inspiration to explore and delve deeper into the cult, society, and location referenced by Charlie in the tape footage. In pursuit of this cultural mystery, Devin finds himself exploring the West Coast Mountains. What initially was set out to be an adventure of discovery transcends into a residency of creepiness and terror.

99% of Tribe from start to finish is presented as found footage/screen life. The application of these viewpoints are very exciting, rather than distracting. The time stamps are a massive ally in keeping track of the passage of time and durations of what occurs throughout. In presenting itself as footage/screen, Tribe has the ability to successfully blend genres and styles, effectively, too. Furthermore, in terms of horror, this is a film that manages to mix psychological horror, cult horror, and even body horror too, all without feeling too convoluted or misplaced.

The blend of found footage horror and adventure, whilst also presented like a documentary, really works better than most probably could have imagined. The key to this success is the journey of mystery and intrigue into the Church of Heaven’s Light. Routine jump scares do occur, but that is to be expected. The true horror is the information presented to the members and society of the Church – very creepy, and very real stuff. The deeper Devin delves, the more atmospheric Tribes develops into. So unbelievably eerie. Borderline uncomfortable.

Tribe’s only slight letdown is that the mystery is more exciting than the reveal. This can quite often be the case, though. The third act does notably feel weaker than its predecessors, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of the film’s conclusion, just that the chase is better than the finish.

By far, Tribe is one of the standouts in an era where there is an increase in screen life/found footage horror films. Especially on the independent scene. Writer-director Dan Asma has done a fantastic job in creating a film that blends its styles so well, to such an effective outcome, Tribe is engaging from start to finish. So exciting, yet so mysterious. A brilliant horror.