What happens when you mix found footage with Victorian period drama and historical murder mysteries? You get the debut feature from Joseph Arthur – Snapshot.
Set in 1888 London, during the Jack the Ripper killings, the film follows amateur inventor Tamworth as he documents the lives of the locals through his invention of the first moving-picture device – a pinhole camera that (literally) centres in on its subjects as they navigate social drama, relationships, and the fear of who may be next.
Snapshot focuses on a group of young women, varying in wealth and poverty, who take to the streets to search for the truth. They believe that no man could commit these murders and get away with it for so long, and so it must be a ghostly spirit. Through seances and midnight gatherings in the brothels that line the alleys, we see the women being picked off one-by-one and the toll it takes on those around them.
Whilst Arthur does a good job of setting up the mystery and tension with the flickering sepia-toned documentary-like interviews, interspersed with jump cuts of women screaming through their attacks, the genuine scares are few and far between. Anyone with an interest in true crime will find something to enjoy here, with Tamworth’s ominous voice hidden behind the camera throughout, leaving those amongst us familiar with the twists and turns of the genre, suspicious of his true intentions.
The different roles in society are explored somewhat, and the film is certainly trying to say something about the effects of the patriarchy and, in particular, the male gaze. However there is somewhat of a contradiction within how the women are portrayed when they are face to face with their male counterparts. They are often argumentative and afforded the opportunity to both shout their opinions loudly, and freely roam the streets and bars despite living in a period where women were expected to be quiet and meek housewives.
Of course, with a 2026 lens, this could be seen as a positive thing – women standing up for what they believe in and for other women’s right to safety – but in blaming a ghostly figure instead of the very men trying to oppress them, and focusing on petty bitching and mother-daughter turmoil over addressing the man behind the camera who constantly abuses his access to them, the women appear naïve to the everything they are fighting against. This leaves the film feeling unrealistic and the message rather messy.
Snapshot is successful in providing a unique found footage experience, but fans of the often-terrifying genre will likely be disappointed in a film that plays more like an episode of Bridgerton with none of the sex, beauty or excitement.
Snapshot had its English premiere at FrightFest 2026 on Monday, August 31
