With this post, I'd like to start blogging about my favorite horror movies that didn't get mainstream recognition. I have watched hundreds of them and so many brilliant titles are out there that I feel it really is worth to share some findings with audience here! :) Let's begin then.
Banshee Chapter: Lovecraftian + MK-Ultra Masterpiece
This one is in my all time top 3 horror films. While I undestand people have diverse taste, IMDB average rating of 5.5 is very surprising and I suggest to don't take it too seriously. It's really awesome movie.
Banshee Chapter takes its main ideas from Lovecraft's "From Beyond" short story and puts them in a modern setting. We have a missing novelist experimenting with modified version of DMT drug and his journalist friend who follows trails of mysterious number radio stations and MK-Ultra footage. Government thread is not really important though, as the truth behind all the strange events is from beyond reality known to humans.
The ideas are scary in themselves, but ideas would not be sufficient if the director - Blair Erickson - could not execute them so perfectly.
What is perfect then?
The rhytm in which the story unfolds. The atmosphere that doesn't fade after we watched the movie for the tenth time. Jump scares we actually wait for while watching through our fingers. The atmosphere again - this unidentified fear lurking somewhere in our subconscious mind or soul.
The story is not possible, right? But what if it was?
The use of number stations (radio stations that broadcast messages composed of numbers in foreign languages, like famous UVB-76 (Wikipedia)) is one of the tools that movie utilizes to build this dark and heavy mood which makes Banshee Chapter so great.
What is worth noting is that there is virtually no blood shown. Violence is scarce and that is precisely what I like in great horror movies. Gore doesn't scare me, dark atmosphere does.
As a side note, there is a release of this film for Oculus Rift, but I have not had the pleasure of watching it. If someone have seen it, I would like to see a comment about this experience.
Enjoy it!
Film is available on Amazon.com, if you watch it, please leave the feedback, as I really would like to know if you enjoyed it. ;)