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The Navidson Record is a 1993 documentary film directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson. The film is known for its frightening yet beautiful portrayal of the events that occurred at the house on Ash Tree Lane in Washington, VA, which was purchased by the United States government prior the to release of the film. A significant portion of the film was shot by Navidson himself, while the rest of the film was shot on low quality Hi-8 camcorders by various other people who witnessed the events. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Navidson won for Best Director. It was also awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. It was a major critical and commercial success.

Directed at some times in a technically and visually beautiful form, but also juxtaposed with harsh, grainy, and amateur filming, The Navidson Record documents the supernatural events that were experienced by Navidson and his family. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters' senses of humor, deep-seated fears, and perspectives on life.

The plot documents the discovery and subsequent investigations into labyrinths that suddenly begin to inhabit the Navidson home. Considered by some critics as the most beautiful film ever made, the film is frequently considered the golden standard in documentary filmmaking. Critic Isaiah Rosen, among many others, believes The Navidson Record is not a documentary at all, but a sloppy thriller/drama that is only believable as a documentary due to its sloppiness and poor acting. Regarding an early scene in which Navidson explains to the audience why he is making his film, Rosen writes: "Navidson’s a fraud from frame one and his early posturing puts the entire work at risk.” Similarly, Hanson Edwin Rose calls it "a shoddy and lazy attempt at a mockumentary." These conspiracy theorist critics have opened up various references to The Navidson Record in popular culture, most notably the odd novel House of Leaves, which is loosely based on the events in the film, but makes the outrageous claim that the film does not even exist. It is unclear whether House of Leaves is a serious attempt to criticize The Navidson Record or if it is an attempt to parody the House-deniers. The Navidson Record is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style, for example The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema. The Navidson Record is generally considered by critics and audiences to be one of the greatest films of all time. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Film Content

Moving In , Discovery, and Explorations 1-3

The film starts out as a simple documentary about Navidson and his family moving in to a new house in the countryside in Virginia. Navidson documents the children’s excitements and worries about their new home, and motion-activated cameras placed throughout the house observe the actions of everyone all the time. The beginning of the film shows some tension between Will and Karen as well, as is well known, their relationship had many bumps. The film was supposed to be about personal growth and redemption, and in a much more complicated way, that’s exactly what it turned out to be. After a few weeks, something incredibly uncanny occurs: the house begins to change. Closets and hallways appear out of thin air, Navidson discovers that the dimensions of the house are bigger on the inside than on the outside. A particularly disturbing room appears in their living room on the south wall, which borders the outside of the house. This room should extend out into the yard, but Navidson goes to great lengths to show that it does not, in a prequel called The Five and a Half Minute Hallway. One night, despite Karen forbidding it, Navidson decides to investigate this room, and goes in while the family is sleeping. He discovers an elaborate labyrinth of rooms, eventually leading him to one large room. As he tries to find his way back, we hear a growl and Navidson discovers that the layout of the rooms has changed. Fortunately his daughter’s voice leads him back out. Navidson hires a crew of outdoor explorers to investigate further, since he is not allowed to enter the labyrinth. This crew consists of Holloway Roberts, Jed Leeder, and Kirby Hooker, all experienced outdoorsmen. The conduct three separate excursions into the labyrinth, going further and further each time, but never reaching an end. The exploration named Exploration #3 ends up lasting almost twenty hours.

Exploration #4 and Evacuation

Holloway and Navidson decide the next exploration needs to get to the bottom of the labyrinth, and they decide to get supplies for an excursion lasting 5 days. Communications are lost almost immediately, and the team does not surface for over eight days. Holloway and his team reached a giant descending staircase, which they finally got to the bottom of after days of descent. Supplies are low, and Jed and Kirby want to head back. Holloway, however, insists on finding the creature that he believes in inhabiting the space. Jed and Kirby have no choice but to leave Holloway. On their way back, Holloway begins to shoot at them with his rifle. It is clear from his personal footage that he is delirious at this point. Kirby is wounded and Jed carries him to safety, while pounding S.O.S. on the walls. Navidson hears the banging and decides to attempt a rescue mission, which he succeeds in doing, but at great cost. Jed is fatally shot by Holloway, and Karen decides to leave Will because he entered the labyrinth. The rescue mission takes an additional three days, and it is incredible that Navidson is able to rescue both Kirby and Jed on his own, as understandably he is unable to film this sequence with an equal amount of grace as when his hands are free. Karen is preparing to leave the house with Chad and Daisy, but neither one is cooperating. As Navidson emerges from the house with Jed and Kirby, the entire house begins to change, shrink, and stretch. A huge gulf appears in the living room and kitchen. Navidson rushes to make sure everyone is safely outside the house. He finds Karen near the trees in the backyard trying to find Chad, he lays Jed down with Kirby close behind. Suddenly we hear a bloodcurdling scream from inside the house. Daisy is still inside. Navidson rushes to the window in the kitchen where the scream came from, but he arrives a fraction of a second too late, his fingers finding air, his eyes scratching after Daisy as she falls to her death. Chad finally emerges from the woods as he hears his father’s sobs, and he quietly goes and sits in the car.

Interlude, aka "What Some Have Thought" and "A Brief History of How [sic] I Love"

What Some Have Thought is a compilation of interviews that Karen did after leaving the house. The novel House of Leaves for some reason claims that this interview was not included in the final cut of the film. The interview subjects range from engineers to doctors to musicians and filmmakers to philosophers, but no one is able to satisfy Karen with an answer about the house. A Brief History of Who I Love is a compilation of pictures and tapes of Navidson throughout his life. It does not address the house in any way and feels somewhat out of place in The Navidson Record.

Exploration #5 and The End

Navidson finally returns to the house after months of working on editing the film for a final exploration, named Exploration #5. For recording the adventure, Navidson brought with him a 1962 H16 hand crank Bolex 16 mm camera along with 16mm, 25 mm, 75 mm Kern-Paillard lenses and a Bogen tripod. He also carried a Sony microcassette recorder, Panasonic Hi 8, ample batteries, at least a dozen 120 minute Metal Evaporated (DLC) tapes, as well as a 35mm Nikon, flashes, and a USA Bobby Lee camera strap. For film, he packed 3000 feet of 7298 16mm Kodak in one hundred foot loads, 20 rolls of 35mm, including some 36 frame Konica 3200 speed, plus 10 rolls of assorted black and white film. For survival gear, he took with him a sleeping bag, a tent, rations for two weeks, chemical heat packs, flares, three flashlights, matches, toothbrush, change of clothes, extra sweater, extra socks, and one book. All of this was loaded into a two wheel trailer he secured to a mountain bike. Navidson starts off moving downhill, and no matter which way he turns continues going downhill, covering enormous distances at almost thirty miles an hour. He travels about 250 miles a day for the next five days. The walls sometimes close in, sometimes expand, but he always moves downhill. Eventually Navidson is forced to leave his bike and remaining supplies behind, bringing only a small pack of supplies up a ladder and through a crawlspace where he eventually comes upon an enormous abyss. There is no way for Navidson, let alone the viewer to determine how large this space is. Navidson is able to read his book by lighting the first page on fire with a match and subsequently lighting each page on fire with the previous one to keep light long enough to finish the book. He then simply begins to fall, or float; he is unable to determine what is going on, at this point the viewer only sees darkness. This continues until there is a speck of blue light in the upper right hand corner of the screen, but the film immediately ends in the middle of Navidson’s cry of surprise. Navidson has never explained what the light was, or how he survived, but lets the film speak for itself as a mixture between a documentary, a horror, a twisted love story, and something else.

Characters

Will Navidson

Will is the central figure in The Navidson Record. A stint in the army early in his life leads him to a very successful career as a world-renowned photojournalist, primarily in war-torn parts of the world; his role as an impartial documentarist of war affected him deeply enough to attempt to change his lifestyle and get away from the tragic wars and poverty in third-world countries. Navidson won the Pulitzer for his picture of a dying girl in Sudan. Navidson is hoping he will be able to slow down, they have moved to the countryside in an effort to find "[a] place to drink lemonade and watch the sun set", a place to "once and for all stay in and explore the quieter side of life." However the unnatural events that occur thereafter have a profound effect upon him and his relationship with his partner, Karen.

Karen Green

Karen was Will's partner and a former fashion model. She suffered from crippling claustrophobia, and throughout the film refuses to enter the labyrinth within her house. She also seemed to be extremely insecure regarding her relationship with Will; he was 'her rock,' though it is confirmed that she had at least three long-term affairs during the course of their relationship. It was initally speculated, later confirmed, that during Karen's childhood, her stepfather once took Karen and her sister into a barn in their backyard. He put one sister in a well while he raped the other, and vice versa. This event is widely considered to be the cause of her crippling claustrophobia. In the aftermath of the events in the house, she became an unlikely editor, approaching experts in many fields (including Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Hofstadter, Harold Bloom, and Jacques Derrida) for comment on The Navidson Record. Eventually, she is reunited with Navidson after she conquers her claustrophobia and saves him from the abyss of the labyrinth.

Holloway Roberts

Holloway was an experienced explorer whom Will contacts in an effort to properly explore the labyrinth beneath his house. Holloway was know as the consummate outdoorsman: He had successfully engaged in numerous expeditions which would have killed normal men, and was an expert in all forms of survivalist equipment, from spelunking gear to firearms. He engaged in two brief explorations of the labyrinth before deciding to take his men on a third, prolonged expedition, prior to which they loaded themselves up with enough food and water to last several days and enough provisions to—they believed—safely guide them back home. During the course of this exploration, Holloway's resolve slowly deteriorated, until the house's bizarre architecture led him to believe an image he saw down a hall is the monster stalking them when, in fact, he was actually looking at his own men; he shot one of them, and, upon realizing what he'd done, suffered a complete psychological breakdown and tried to murder them. Eventually, the house "trapped" him by sealing him inside a series of locked chambers; alone and insane, Holloway recorded a series of unsettling final messages on a video camera before filming himself committing suicide. The tape of his death was recovered by Will from the labyrinth. The seconds leading up to the end of the tape reveal that either 1) Holloway's corpse is devoured by the "monster" he is convinced is real or 2) Holloway merely disappears into the blackness of the house. Whether Holloway had some influence on the house's actions (before or after his suicide) is left ambiguous.

Kirby "Wax" Hook

Another explorer of the labyrinth in Navidson's house. He is ultimately shot in the shoulder by Holloway; however, he goes on to survive. The House leaves him with limited functionality in that shoulder, and an inexplicable case of impotence. However, after Navidson reenters the House for a fifth and final exploration, these symptoms disappear. Wax has a reputation as a flirt, who constantly attempts to hook up with women. He kisses Karen Green, a scene which Will later witnesses on camera.

Jed Leeder

The third explorer of the labyrinth in Navidson's house. He is shot by Holloway in the jaw, killing him.

Chad Navidson

Will Navidson and Karen Green's son, the older sibling. Around the times of the explorations, Chad is described as becoming increasingly aggressive and wandering. See photo gallery for Chad's drawing of the house.

Daisy Navidson

Will Navidson and Karen Green's daughter. During the explorations of the house, Daisy is described as suffering from echolalia. See photo gallery for Daisy's drawing of the house.

Reception

Reviews for the film were overwhelmingly positive, with a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and therefore a "certified fresh" award. Another score aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 72 based on 32 reviews, signifying 'generally favorable reviews'. Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "It's unnerving, stimulating, likely to provoke anger and sorrow from anyone who views it—and, above all, it's extremely funny.”

Some reviews were not as unequivocally glowing. Desson Thomson of The Washington Post thought that the film lacked a coherent message, saying, "A lot of this is amusing and somehow telling. But what does it all add up to?"

MPAA Rating

The film is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, which means that children under the age 17 were not admitted to see the film theatrically unless under supervision. The film was noted for "adult themes and some violent images and language."

Awards and Nominations

• 1993 Winner, 46th Anniversary Prize, 1993 Cannes Film Festival
• 1994 Winner, César Award, Best Foreign Film
• 1994 Winner, International Documentary Association (IDA) - Best Documentary of All Time
• 1994 Winner, Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature

Gross Income

With a budget of $5 1/2 thousand, The Navidson Project grossed $58,008,423 worldwide, including $21,576,018 in the United States. The documentary also broke box office records internationally, becoming the highest-grossing documentary in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Austria. These records were later eclipsed by the 2013 documentary The Saratov Approach.

Popular Culture

House of Leaves

House of Leaves is a novel with no known author, published by Pantheon Books. The novel quickly became a bestseller following its release on March 7, 2000. It was followed by a companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters. The novel has since been translated into a number of languages. While some have attempted to describe the book as a horror story, many readers, would define the book as a "satire of academic criticism" due to its exaggeration of the criticism surrounding The Navidson Record. For example, the novel contains a protagonist, named Johnny Truant, who is compiling an unfinished manuscript written by a blind, now deceased, scholar named Zampano. This manuscript is an academic analysis of the criticism surrounding the supposedly nonexistent film, The Navidson Record.

While the novel is labeled as being authored by Mark Z. Danielewski, no such person exists, perhaps this is a nod to the universe in the novel where real people do not exist, and people who do not exist are the “real” people within the novel. The novel also adds characters into The Navidson Record, as well as events that do not occur.

House of Leaves is self-referential in that Navidson reads a book by the same title as the novel. This is another possible joke the book is making, seeing as how the only version ever released was the 2nd Edition, but the book fails to mention that, despite Navidson almost exclusively photographing people rather than scenery, he won awards for a photograph of a tree, which was included in a nature book of trees, also named House of Leaves. The self-referential style, along with the blurring of fiction and reality make this novel a prime example of postmodern fiction.

Interpretations of the novel’s take on the actual film, whether critical or defensive, can only remain speculation, as no one has come forward as the author of the book. Pantheon Books refuses to release any information on its source. Thus the novel House of Leaves only adds fuel to the fire surrounding the controversy of The Navidson Record.

Poe

5 ½ Minute Hallway is a song by alternative electronica musical artist Poe, and the title is a reference to the short film released by Navidson in 1990, presumably filmed during the filming of The Navidson Record.