The Waiting Man adds a veiled original legend to the found footage genre (spoiler-free review)

The Waiting Man - Courtesy of Spying Moth Entertainment

“We’re content creators after all. There’s no such thing as a personal life.”

Content on the internet can range from many topics, including video game streaming, everyday life updates, and paranormal encounters. In Carl Sundström’s independent horror movie, The Waiting Man, one content creation group called TOMNI finds themselves unwittingly covering the latter. 

The Waiting Man is a found footage project from Swedish photographer and filmmaker Carl Sundström. Previous films from him include Documenting the Witch Path and Reportage November. His film work generally features folklore, and in this film, he explores his own original legend through the camcorder lens (as well as those belonging to surveillance and web cameras).

The Waiting Man will have its world premiere this July at the 2026 PUFA (Pucela Fantástica), adding to a well anticipated summer of horror.

The film opens with a 911 call from a frantic little girl crying “he’s here” and wants to hurt them. There is a blood curdling scream before the scene ends. We then go to Kiko Watanabe, the host of an international paranormal investigation show that talks about TOMNI’s viewership losing 600,000 subscribers after they started talking about a legend known as “The Waiting Man.” She talks about compiling footage from their videos and SD cards to comprise the footage they are about to show, which is how the film itself is presented.

Made up of Joel, Mikael (“Mitch”) and Lukas (“Guy”) TOMNI is a vlogging/gaming channel with over 7.5 million followers. Joel is the main face of TOMNI, and most of the content is centered on pranking each other and live-streaming a Call of Duty-esque first-person shooter. Guy is leaving for a trip to the US for his girlfriend’s birthday, but not before discussing a desire to expand their typical content. One night during one of his gaming streams, Joel informs his audience of a silhouetted man standing in the street outside his apartment building. The channel viewers begin comparing this to the legend of “The Waiting Man,” a supernatural entity that stalks his victims for 12 nights before “taking” them. Hoping to expand TOMNI’s content, Joel tries to exploit the legend for viewership and ends up at its mercy. 

One of my favorite aspects of the film was the devotion to the legend itself, establishing it in an organic manner that fits this age of technology and mass communication. I even Googled whether or not the Waiting Man was an actual urban legend (it is not). However, I do see some inspiration pulled from the Slender Man mythos. One of the most prominent similarities being the use of heavy static when the entity is approached. Indeed, I found myself getting a little nostalgic as it reminded me of the old Marble Hornets videos on YouTube. The Waiting Man is internationally recognized; Kiko Watanabe even ties it to disappearances in Delaware, Arizona, and Ohio. 

Many questions regarding the entity remain unanswered, which adds a sense of realism that’s already established with it being a found footage film. The characters do heavy research into it, but what little knowledge obtained barely gives them the confidence they wish for.

The Waiting Man - Courtesy of Spying Moth Entertainment

Sundström gives us an ambitious blend of true crime horror and found footage with The Waiting Man. His well-established eye for photography exists behind a film camera as well, featuring some breathtaking shots of Sweden’s scenery in the beginning. These shots contrast the first-person, claustrophobic shots that largely make up the film (which mostly takes place in Joel’s apartment).

The Waiting Man is not without its flaws, though, which are mostly centered on tropes. The film utilizes exhausted scenarios (i.e. turning around after hearing a noise during a power outage and finding nothing), but not to the extent that many mainstream horrors and thrillers do. There is also a slight overuse of characters walking around to investigate. But Sundström manages to balance these out during unsettling scenes in which the characters, and the audience, are less alert.

One of the most terrifying scenes to me was when a radio in Joel’s apartment turns on by itself one night and a muffled voice speaks about “tormenting victims” through harsh static as Joel examines it. 

There is also a twist at the end that, while I won’t spoil the details, was well-hidden throughout the film.

The Waiting Man will premiere at PUFA (Pucela Fantástica) this July in Valladolid, Spain.