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Maya
USA 2022
produced by Paul C. Hemmes, Nathan Hill (II), Jennifer Scott for Fancy Lad Films, Dead Enders 5
directed by Paul C. Hemmes
starring Seth Gandrud, Jennifer Scott, Vic Rogers, Natalie Andrews, J.C. Marquez Pulita, Jessica Eenhuis, Victoria Paege, Dineta Williams-Trigg, Brinke Stevens, Crystal Inzunza, Ann Harper, Carley Meier, Richard Jenkins, Cat Roberts, Sam Meier, Emma Patricia Roberts, Samantha Panu, George Prehara, Kim Wagner-Hemmes, Violet Pixie, Christos Antoniou
written by Paul C. Hemmes, music by Paul C. Hemmes, Kirk Mazzia, visual effects supervisor: Paul C. Hemmes, creature effects by Joe Castro
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Six best friends - Quinn (Seth Gandrud), Kira (Jennifer Scott), Maddox
(Vic Rogers), Olivia (Natalie Andrews), Marco (J.C. Marquez Pulita) and
India (Jessica Eenhuis) - go on a fishing trip together, but the trip is
under no good star from the get-go, when they arrive at a ramshackle
bridge leading to their spot, which not only looks less than safe, but
also several of the group suffer from terrible hallucinations when
arriving there, hallucinations that affect some of them physically.
However they make it over the bridge - only to then notice they've
forgotten their supplies in the car. But heading back they have to realize
the bridge is gone - in fact there is no sign there ever was a bridge. Of
course they could have taken a wrong turn, but there's no bridge for
miles, and they haven't even walked miles yet. Of course, there cellphones
won't work in the middle of nowhere, but they're also showing different
times. Eventually, it's getting dark, and our heroes start to experience
weird hallucinations, hallucinations that have one thing in common, a
weird young woman named Maya (Victoria Paege). Unfortunately these
hallucionations prove to be all too real - and quite harmful to our group
of campers as well ... Genre fave Brinke Stevens plays of all things a
demonic tea lady threatening Jennifer Scott's character. A
quite unusual piece of genre cinema, one that starts out as a somewhat
folk horror inspired piece, eventually veers of into haunted woods
territory, to ultimately give a very esoteric spin to things - and I have
to admit, towards the third act the film loses itself a bit, abandons some
of its narrative stringency for a more episodic mode of storytelling, but
the vignettes that make up the finale are all well put-together and
shocking enough to make horror fans happy - and of course a very solid
cast doesn't hurt one bit either.
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