Found footage films can be hit or miss, and they usually need something exceptional to lift one above another to make it worthy of note. I think Butterfly Kisses falls into that category. What it ends up being is a film, within a film, about film.

Gavin (Seth Adam Kallick), a would-be filmmaker, trying to make ends meet as a wedding videographer is taking over a film project when his parents find in their basement, a box of tapes in a shoebox marked ‘don’t watch.’

It seems the tapes were a film thesis put together by Sophia Crane (Rachel Armiger) and Feldman (Reed DeLisle) as they explored the urban legend of a being known as Peeping Tom aka Mr. Blink. Gavin works to assemble the film into a comprehensive narrative, working with a studio to upgrade the sound and picture for a theatrical release. He sees this as his chance to not only make some coin but also to possibly prove the existence of a paranormal being which he is increasingly beginning to believe in.

Following Gavin around is Erik (Erik Kristopher Myers) and his documentary crew. They are trying to make a character piece on Gavin as he puts everything into making his film, ignoring his wife, his son, and the towering threat of financial ruin that casts a shadow over his entire home life.

As we and Gavin explore the Crane/Feldman footage there are glimpses of something truly horrifying happening, as the shadowy figure of Peeping Tom seems to draw closer and closer to the camera with each cut of the camera. The film footage is ‘explored’ by actual film experts and authors, there are some recognizable names thrown around, all of whom make the film a little meta, there is commentary on the tropes of found footage films, the use of sound and VFX, and it actually gives the film a little weight, especially when things start to go wrong for Gavin.

Found footage films, as I and others have noted can be very hit-and-miss, the acting can be hokey, the effects and shakey-cam can be annoying, but this time around, all of the usual tropes seemed to work to the film’s benefit. There are a couple of moments when the effects weren’t as great as they could have been, but nothing that ejected me from the film’s enjoyable narrative.

In fact, I really liked how this one was put together. It knew how to walk the documentary/found footage line really well. In fact, it almost plays more as a faux documentary than all-out found footage horror, and I think that’s what I really liked about it.