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Mystery Spot
USA 2021
produced by Audrey Wasilewski, Lyle Kanouse, Caroline Metz (executive) forUpstart Filmworks
directed by Mel House
starring Graham Skipper, Lisa Wilcox, Debbie Rochon, Bobby Simpson II, Rachael Logue, Jill Brumer, Lyle Kanouse, Steven Scott, Regan Christine House, Julie Osterman, Emma Osterman, Seán Patrick Judge, Cyrus Rodas, Katelynn Bauer, Mandi Leblanc, Sarah Ondras, Chelsea Ryan McCurdy, Tommy Bo, Megan Jackson
written by Mel House, music by Josh Loucka
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Rather on a whim, photographer Rachel (Lisa Wilcox) stops at a run-down
motel in the middle of nowhere for a few days to take some pictures of
true Americana, and especially the "Mystery Spot", a long burned
down "haunted house"-style tourist attraction, attracts her
attention. The motel itself seems to attract a special group of people as
well, from owner Max (Lyle Kanouse), who has never overcome the death of
his husband, to filmmaker Nathan (Graham Skipper), who does pointless
auditions all day long for a company he doesn't even know (and that
ultimately doesn't really exist), to Leon (Bobby Simpson II), a cop that
parks his car opposite Nathan's room to keep him under surveillance
because he suspects him of "something". And then there's Emma
(Rachel Logue), who auditions for Nathan, but she really suspects him of
having killed her sister, without a shred of evidence. Thing is, everybody
here seems to have lost someone, for Rachel it's her husband (Steven
Scott), for Nathan it's his daughter (Regan Christine House), and for Leon
it's his daughter (Jill Brumer), and it seems the motel is a mystical
place that can get one in touch with lost and restless souls from the
beyond - but these souls eventually ask for their price ... Genre fave
Debbie Rochon plays Leon's current partner who's not at all pleased about
his current mission.
Now while deeply routed in the horror genre, this is not your
run-of-the-mill formula movie, it's rather slowburn in its build-up and
does leave major junks of its story open to interpretation, in a way owing
more to David Lynch than genre filmmaking, and really relies more on
otherworldly atmosphere than on spectacle - and the motel-cum-scarehouse
location really helps with that. And a very solid cast keeps things
grounded throughout, and the result is a very unusual but utterly
fascinating piece of genre cinema.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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