‘What Happened to Dorothy Bell’ is Effectively Chilling Found Footage: A Review

What is What Happened to Dorothy Bell About?

What Happened to Dorothy Bell was written and directed by Danny Villanueva Jr. Asya Meadows stars as Ozzie Gray, and Arlene Arnone plays Ozzie’s grandmother Dorothy Bell. Also appearing in prominent supporting roles are Steven Alonte, Michael Hargrove, Sargon Odicho, and Lisa Wilcox.

What Happened to Dorothy Bell Review

What Happened to Dorothy Bell is at its best when it keeps the plot simple and the scares straightforward. There are some genuinely spooky moments throughout this movie, and most of them are of the understated variety. Catching a brief glimpse of an inexplicable mist out of the corner of your eye. A barely discernible shape in the darkness that suddenly pulls away from view. A half-heard whisper. These were the moments that gave me chills, and they were the moments that felt the most effective.

There are, of course, more obvious scares, especially in the later parts of the movie. Twisted faces, people/things jumping out at the camera, that sort of thing. Those are fine, but I think the movie would have been better overall had it stuck to the more chilling aspects of the story while maybe not indulging as much in the more overt stuff. So, sticking with the quiet dread rather than building to a loud crescendo. The movie does end quietly in the final scene though, which I very much appreciate.

The driving force of the story is Ozzie, played wonderfully by Asya Meadows. Ozzie has recently uncovered some painful facts about her family and her past, and Asya conveys the pain and confusion about these new feelings extremely well. There’s a subtlety to their delivery that fits exactly in line with a more restrained approach to the horrors that are in store for their character.

Maybe that’s why I feel like the bigger scares didn’t work as well, because they don’t feel as grounded and realistic as Asya’s performance. The more overt supernatural happenings seem a lot like something the filmmakers maybe felt like they needed to include because of the found-footage format. For instance, there’s a moment (it’s in the trailer, so this isn’t really a spoiler) where a book falls from the ceiling of the library and lands on someone’s head. It felt a little out of place to me considering the tone that had been established to that point. That then leads directly to the biggest sequence of overt scares in the movie. It’s not an egregious departure from the earlier tone, but it’s not what I was expecting or hoping for from the final act in the story.

What Happened to Dorothy Bell is mostly about, as I interpret it, mental illness and the lasting effect it can have over generations. The mental illness here is represented supernaturally, but the metaphor feels pretty clear to me. One day Ozzie’s grandmother had a mental break seemingly out of nowhere, and now Ozzie is scared that she might be headed down the same path. It’s a fear shared by her parents who made the situation worse when they chose not to tell Ozzie anything about it. I enjoy the basic metaphor, and I think it is handled well overall. Even after the movie strays maybe too far into some of the expected beats of a supernatural mystery (internet research, the luck of finding an expert who lives nearby and knows exactly what Ozzie is dealing with, etc.), it gets back to the true meaning of the movie well.

As a found-footage stickler though, I do have to mention a few things about the format of the narrative. What Happened to Dorothy Bell utilizes a found footage aesthetic within what could largely be described as a pseudo-documentary. Ozzie is keeping video diaries of herself and her investigation, and that footage is edited together for the movie we’re watching. Well, that’s mostly how it is. There’s also a fair amount of screenlife (computer screen) footage, which could also make sense in a pseudo-doc format.

However, there are moments when the found-footage aspect doesn’t hold up. The ending scene, for example, is not found footage. There are too many camera angles shown, and the characters in the scene are in no shape to be setting up that many cameras anyway. I’ve seen other movies do this as well. It’s not a huge deal, and I know I’m being extremely picky, but I can’t help it. Things like that, and moments like when the camera is always in just the right position to catch all the spooky moments every time, take me out of a found footage movie a little because of the attention it draws to itself.

Rating and Recommendation

Star Rating: 3 out of 5

Nitpicking aside, What Happened to Dorothy Bell is a well-made supernatural horror movie that utilizes a found-footage aesthetic well, if somewhat unevenly. It’s spooky at times, and the overall story is effective, even when the plot takes a few clichéd or contrived detours. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a dramatic supernatural mystery with a few good scares.

You can rent What Happened to Dorothy Bell digitally on Fandango at Home.

Further Reading

• Harvest Brood is a Remarkable Work of Lo-Fi Aesthetic Appeal: A Review
• The Last Cabin is an Admirable Found Footage Effort: A Review
• Found Footage Horror Movies
• New/Upcoming Horror Movies
• Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2025