Neil Breen’s Fateful Findings (2013) is widely considered the magnum opus of outsider cinema, standing alongside Tommy Wiseau’s The Room as one of the greatest "so-bad-it’s-good" cult films ever made. Written, directed, produced, and edited by Breen—who also handled production design, makeup, and catering—the film is a mesmerizing masterclass in accidental surrealism.
You love The Room but wish it had more hacking and ethical ambiguity.
You enjoy shouting at your TV screen, “Why are you drinking that water?!”
You want to understand why a small, devoted fanbase considers Neil Breen a genuine auteur.
The plot (such as it is): A brilliant novelist/scientist/hacker/magician (Breen himself, always wearing the same black suit) discovers he can communicate with supernatural forces via his laptop. He uncovers a global conspiracy involving pharmaceutical companies, government assassins, and… marriage problems. Armed with a mysterious green stone, the ability to faint on command, and a staggering lack of social grace, he sets out to “expose the corrupt” – while also rekindling an affair with an old flame who may or may not be his dead friend’s wife. Fateful Findings - 2013 - Neil Breen
The Premise (As Far as Anyone Can Tell)
Neil Breen writes, directs, produces, funds, edits, and stars in all of his films. In Fateful Findings, he plays Dylan, a brilliant novelist/researcher/technomancer who, as a child, made a pact with a mystical, glowing, pagan-esque stone circle in the woods. The deal? Limitless knowledge. Neil Breen’s Fateful Findings (2013) is widely considered
And then? A literal deus ex machina. The stone circle glows. A laser shoots into the sky. Dylan walks away holding hands with his ghost girlfriend. You love The Room but wish it had
