Sometimes true horror is built on very real elements, and perhaps that’s what makes The Taking of Deborah Logan hit different. Merging issues like mental illness and possession, Adam Robitel incites pure fear in this 2014 found footage and supernatural horror film. Drawing a line between the two is often difficult, making them debatable topics, especially in the spheres of religion and healthcare. The horror mystery itself follows three students making a documentary about an Alzheimer’s patient until they discover something eerie about her condition.
By blending found footage and supernatural elements, the film highlights the concepts of realism and fear. It also has a profound psychological impact on audiences and critics, who often summarize it as full-on spooky. That said, you probably don’t want to watch this movie alone, especially at night.
‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ Feels Like Someone’s Actual Footage
It’s October 13, 2013, and a three-member documentary team, Mia Hu (Michelle Ang), Gavin (Brett Gentile), and Luis (Jeremy DeCarlos), drives to Exuma, Virginia, to meet Sarah (Anne Ramsay) and her mother, Deborah Logan (Jill Larson). Deborah initially declined the team’s request to document her life, but her daughter pushes the right buttons, and suddenly she’s on board. As days turn into weeks, they notice her condition deteriorating, especially since she begins to exhibit some violent and erratic behavior. Initially, it looked like a natural progression of her Alzheimer’s, but over time, she slowly loses her humanity and becomes something sinister.
Building on this eerie transformation, The Taking of Deborah Logan presents its story as a documentary, with Robitel using found footage to immerse audiences in horror. Through unedited footage, shaky camera movements, and a minimal music score, Deborah’s story comes off as a real-life event. Mia and her team document her deteriorating condition, capturing the devastating nature of the disease and how it strips away her identity. When people lose control, fear sets in, and chaos abounds; exactly what happens to Deborah as she becomes violent, stares blankly at the walls and windows, and whispers to herself.
This found footage approach is not unique to Robitel’s film. Many horror films have effectively used the documentary style to tell scary, dread-inducing stories, including the well-known Blair Witch Project (1999) by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. The major difference between the two is that The Taking of Deborah Logan focuses on mental illness and possession, while the other dives deep into witchcraft.
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The Supernatural Meets Science in ‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’
Dementia and possession are distinctive phenomena that often spark intellectual debates. The former is a well-documented medical condition, while the latter revolves around religious or cultural beliefs. Here, Robitel blends the two and tries to blur the lines between them. Typical symptoms of dementia include confusion, suspicion, and hallucination, and the leading character displays these signs as her doctor confirms she is in the middle stages of the disease.
Gradually, Deborah’s condition worsens, and she becomes erratic, exhibiting strange behaviors like staring blankly at windows and speaking in a peculiar voice. She practically attacks Gavin with a knife, claiming he hid her small spade, and later on, a surveillance camera catches her speaking French. It turns out her situation is connected to an old case in the town. The evil presence involved is linked to a man who went missing years earlier after doing terrible things to young girls, and whatever he started back then wasn’t actually finished. Using Deborah is his way of trying to pick up where he stopped.
Altogether, Deborah’s disturbing transformation from a patient battling Alzheimer’s to someone clearly possessed by a demon fades the distinction between dementia and the supernatural. Her gradual transition also has a profound emotional and psychological impact on the people around her. Her daughter, Sarah, resorts to drinking, her friend and neighbor, Harris Sredl (Ryan Cutrona), starts shooting in the middle of the night, and Gavin quits the team. It’s not hard to see why The Taking of Deborah Logan impressed critics. It currently sits with a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
To witness the horror of slowly losing one’s mind, watch The Taking of Deborah Logan on Prime Video.
