One of our favorite films from the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival back in 2024 is now available streaming. AHITH is known for its quirky, proudly independent genre films, and this movie does not disappoint. It can be difficult for little independent films to get good distribution. Sometimes good things come to patient filmmakers who wait for the right deal. Now, Cognitive has received a proper launch. Cognitive had a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles last month and is now available to the general public on Tubi, Sling TV, and Fandango.
Joseph Perry reviewed the film for The Scariest Things:
★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed by Evan Richards
Writer/director/editor/producer Evan Richards’ mystery/psychological thriller Cognitive is the kind of film that I would love to write a long review about just to sing its many praises, but it is also exactly the kind of film that deserves to have viewers go in as cold as possible so as not to have any of its thrills and surprises spoiled for them. I’m opting for the latter approach here.
Told in reverse chronological order, the film opens to find a young woman (Rachel Fleischer) in big trouble, as she has been kidnapped by a couple similar in age (Nina Brissey and Adam Courtin), and there’s a major fuss just outside the place from which she makes an escape. Richards then takes the story and characters backwards on an increasingly mesmerizing path, with the jolt of the final scene landing so well that I immediately wanted to watch the opening sequence again, and then the entire film, having finally gained access to all of the information, and finding the film more than entertaining and well-made enough to do so.
The four leads, which include Ratidzo Mambo as the best friend of Fliescher’s character, all give dynamic performances, and they have plenty of meaty material with which to work thanks to Richards’ smart screenplay. Ryan Jackson-Healy’s cinematography puts viewers up close and in the middle of the action during suspenseful moments, with a wonderful final sequence filmed to perfection.
Without giving away any more, I will add that Cognitive is horror-adjacent and serves up just enough ambiguity to leave viewers pondering certain elements.
The Scariest Things Mission:
We are in a golden age of horror movies. The studios are making serious box-office profits from original titles. Here’s the secret, though, little independent movies are ALWAYS creating original titles. Film Festivals have always been very good to us, and have opened our eyes to indie horror. I often describe what we do as operating in a fishbowl with the festivals, independent filmmakers, and actors looking to get some SAG credits under their belt. We need them, and they need us. The Hollywood Reporter and Variety may go to Sundance and SXSW, but they don’t make the trip to the smaller festivals. We benefit by getting the first reviews on IMDb for these movies, and the filmmakers are always eager to give us interviews and support our reviews.
In that spirit, we encourage you to check out films like Cognitive and to spread the word. By seeing this article, you help our algorithm and SEO. Now, the next step is to download the film. Remember, Tubi is FREE! We wish the best of success to Evan Richards and his entire production team.
