Insanity (original title Vihanpidot, which very accurately translates to “The Feuding”) is a 2019 Finnish found footage horror film that dares to ask the question: what if you took a class reunion, a cabin-in-the-woods setup, and a group of people who probably shouldn’t even share a group chat—and then forgot to add anything particularly scary? Written and directed by Miska Kajanus, it’s a movie about how friendships crumble over a weekend island getaway, which is relatable, but unfortunately the horror never quite levels up from “awkward social tension” to “actual nightmare fuel.”
It’s like someone filmed a toxic friend group imploding and then tried to market it as horror instead of just calling it what it is: emotional damage with a body count.
Found Footage, Lost Purpose
Found footage is one of those subgenres that works best when it feels like you’re seeing something you shouldn’t: a raw record of shit truly going sideways. Here, it often feels more like being trapped in an endless, handheld vlog made by people you’d unfollow halfway through the first night. The camera work is shaky, sure, but not in a way that builds immersion—more like in a way that makes you question whether anyone has heard of tripods or intention.
The whole conceit of “we’re filming this reunion/weekend/party” is always a bit flimsy in found footage, but usually we get some justification: documentary, web series, YouTuber, whatever. In Insanity, it mostly just feels like they’re filming because the script says they have to. People keep the camera rolling through arguments, confessions, and murder-y chaos with the dedication of a wedding videographer who really needs that final payment.
Come for the Reunion, Stay Because the Boat Left
The premise is straightforward enough: a group of old friends head to an island for a getaway/class reunion/party, and buried resentments bubble up until things turn bloody. That’s actually a solid setup; friend-group horror can be very effective. There’s something inherently unsettling about being trapped with people who know exactly which buttons to push and exactly what you did that one summer you never talk about.
But Insanity somehow makes this rich emotional minefield feel… flat. The island setting could have been oppressive—a lonely, isolated, inescapable space. Instead, it’s just sort of there: some trees, some water, some feelings. The atmosphere never quite gets under your skin. You keep waiting for the island to feel like an active, malevolent presence, but it’s more like a bored AirBnB hosting yet another messy friend group meltdown.
Feuding, but Mostly Just Bickering
Our main players—Vivi (Alina Tomnikov), Sanni (Hanna Angelvuo), Leo (Karlo Haapiainen), Jane (Saara Inari), Tomi (Henry Pöyhiä), and others—are meant to be lifelike, flawed, and complicated. Instead, they come off as the kind of people you’d silently mute in a group thread and then pretend you “never saw the message.” They drink, they argue, they dredge up old grudges. This is all fine in theory—but the writing never quite hits that sweet spot where toxic dynamics become compelling rather than just exhausting.
Yes, people are petty. Yes, reunions can bring out the worst in everyone. But if I wanted to watch long, messy arguments with intermittent crying, I’d just sit closer to the bar at closing time. The movie desperately wants us to feel that history hangs heavy over these relationships. The problem is, it mostly tells us that rather than showing it in a way that builds sympathy or fear.
So when the blood starts spilling and scores get settled, it’s hard to care who lives or dies. “Oh no, not that one,” you rarely think, because “that one” never quite made it past “personality: holds a beer, has a grievance.”
Horror Lite, Drama Heavy
One of the biggest issues with Insanity is that it markets itself as horror, but often plays more like a low-budget drama that occasionally remembers it promised carnage. The tension is so focused on interpersonal conflict that when “something else on the island” is hinted at, it barely registers as a real threat. The synopsis promises that the group starts to fear there might be something else there besides them. That sounds intriguing on paper. In practice, that “something else” often feels like a contractual obligation rather than the spine of the story.
Is it supernatural? Is it a slasher? Is it psychological? The film kind of shrugs and says, “Yes. No. Maybe. Look, someone’s yelling again.” Horror doesn’t have to explain everything, but it does have to commit to something. Insanityflirts with multiple possibilities and never fully marries any of them.
Found Footage Fatigue
By now, found footage has baggage. Audiences have seen it done brilliantly (REC, The Blair Witch Project, Creep), and we’ve seen it abused mercilessly as an excuse for sloppy cinematography and paper-thin plotting. Insanity lands uncomfortably closer to the latter.
The format should create immediacy. Instead, it amplifies the movie’s weaknesses: repetitive shouting matches, meandering pacing, and scenes that linger long after their point has been made. There’s a lot of talking. Then more talking. Then finally, something violent happens—and then more talking about what just happened. You can practically feel the runtime stretch like old chewing gum.
Darkly funny thought: perhaps the real “found footage” is the viewers’ sanity, slowly leaking away as they watch yet another shaky argument about who wronged whom ten years ago.
Characters You’d Leave on Read
Vivi, Sanni, Leo, Jane, Tomi—these could have been sharply drawn archetypes: the people you grew up with but never really knew, each holding onto their own private version of the past. Instead, they mostly feel like stock reunion-movie characters who got lost on their way to a darker film.
There’s clearly an attempt to explore trauma, jealousy, unresolved heartbreak, and betrayal. But those threads are never woven into something that feels like it had to be told this way, in this genre. The “feuding” of the title is more soap opera than horror—the kind of stuff that might be juicy in a tighter, better-scripted drama, but here just drags between the scarce moments of actual menace.
And when people finally do snap, it doesn’t feel like a horrifying inevitability; it’s more like the script raising its hand and saying, “Okay, now it’s time for violence so we can call this horror on the poster.”
Island of Misfit Tone Shifts
Tonally, the film wobbles. Sometimes it feels like grim realism, the kind of grounded, raw Finnish mood piece about broken relationships that would play at a festival with people nodding thoughtfully. Other times it dips into genre territory so abruptly that it feels like someone changed the channel but kept the same cast.
Good horror can absolutely be about messy emotions and relational collapse. But you need a throughline—a steady escalation of dread, or the feeling that something awful is coiling tighter with each scene. Insanity often feels like it’s just ping-ponging between “we need to talk about our feelings” and “someone needs to die now.”
The Scariest Part: There’s a Sequel
Perhaps the most horrifying detail of all: a sequel is reportedly being planned, to be filmed in the United States. So not only did this group getaway go catastrophically wrong, but someone looked at the footage and said, “Yes. More of that. In another country.”
In a darkly comic way, that tracks. Of course there’s a sequel. Of course the emotional carnage and inconsistent horror get rewarded with another movie. It’s the cinematic version of that friend who keeps going back to the same terrible relationship, insisting “This time will be different.”
Final Diagnosis
Insanity wants to be a raw, emotionally intense found footage horror film about feuds, guilt, and revenge on an isolated island. What it often ends up being is an overlong, underwhelming record of unlikeable people shouting at each other with occasional stabbing.
If you’re fascinated by low-budget experiments, Nordic awkwardness, or the slow, grinding death of a friend group, you might find something to appreciate here. But as a horror experience, it’s more mildly irritating than terrifying—like being stuck at a reunion you didn’t want to attend, on an island you can’t leave, with people you regret knowing long before the blood ever hits the floor.
In that sense, the title isn’t wrong. There is insanity here. It’s just mostly on the audience’s part for sticking around hoping the island will get scarier than the conversations.
