The writer/director team of Jordan Harris and Andrew Schrader have created a surprising well made film for one with such a small budget, rivaling or excelling over projects that spent far more money... which only goes to show that talent is talent, no matter the bankroll.
The three wannabee Satanists... Elliot, Warren, and Terry (as portrayed by young actors Peter Tullio, Philip Marlatt, and Melanie Wilson)... give a believably real performance when they embark on a road trip that leads to hell itself. The locations, lighting, and soundtrack, all add to a growing sense of disorientation and suspense reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project (1999), but then steps further into darkness with the addition of psychedelic effects that become a horror film on acid. Terry becomes injured and the two men separate to seek help... each encountering manifestations of evil. Warren's encounter is particularly disturbing in the vein of Deliverance (1972) when he stumbles upon a campsite where he finds nubile seductress Jenny (delightfuly portrayed by Vanity Meers). Any young man's fantasy seems about to be realized until the dream is dashed when Daddy Ned (brought to disturbing life by Michael Q. Schmidt) returns to the campsite to interrupt the two in a manner that changes fantasy to aberrant nightmare. Elliot's own encounter begins with Terry's unconscious body appearing and disappearing in a mysterious manner that cries out that something wicked has indeed been unleashed in the woods, and culminates in the film's finale when he meets the dark Master personally.
BB Hollywood Reports gives this one a 10 out of 10. But don't watch it alone.
The three wannabee Satanists... Elliot, Warren, and Terry (as portrayed by young actors Peter Tullio, Philip Marlatt, and Melanie Wilson)... give a believably real performance when they embark on a road trip that leads to hell itself. The locations, lighting, and soundtrack, all add to a growing sense of disorientation and suspense reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project (1999), but then steps further into darkness with the addition of psychedelic effects that become a horror film on acid. Terry becomes injured and the two men separate to seek help... each encountering manifestations of evil. Warren's encounter is particularly disturbing in the vein of Deliverance (1972) when he stumbles upon a campsite where he finds nubile seductress Jenny (delightfuly portrayed by Vanity Meers). Any young man's fantasy seems about to be realized until the dream is dashed when Daddy Ned (brought to disturbing life by Michael Q. Schmidt) returns to the campsite to interrupt the two in a manner that changes fantasy to aberrant nightmare. Elliot's own encounter begins with Terry's unconscious body appearing and disappearing in a mysterious manner that cries out that something wicked has indeed been unleashed in the woods, and culminates in the film's finale when he meets the dark Master personally.
BB Hollywood Reports gives this one a 10 out of 10. But don't watch it alone.