Running Time: 87 minutes
Release Dates: Aug. 22, 2013 (Fantasty Filmfest) & Dec. 12, 2013 (US)
Review by: Stacey
I watched this movie probably about 7 or 8 months ago and I distinctly remember being upset by it. Not because it was scary or even very good, but because I didn't pay enough attention and had no idea what the fuck was going on. At that point I just tossed it back into my pile of titles that I wouldn't care to ever watch again. What I DO remember, however, was that the plot was actually really cool and covered a subject I have always been fascinated by. Fast forward to now and I went back into that shameful pile and pulled out Banshee Chapter to see if maybe a second viewing would remedy whatever feelings I had initially had about it.
Banshee Chapter follows reporter, Anne Roland (Katia Winter), who's investigating the disappearance of her friend, James (Michael McMillian), who ingested DMT-19; a drug that was used on civilians during MKUltra's experiments. This leads her on a wild trail of anonymous radio broadcasts, unseen "creatures", and a crazy Hunter S. Thompson-esque sidekick (Ted Levine) all in search of the truth- which is far scarier than Anne expected.
I wish I could have come out of this second viewing of Banshee Chapter all converted and ready to praise this film, but that just wouldn't be right of me to do. I was less pissed at it at least, and probably because I actually knew what was going on the whole time. What still irked my nerves, though, were the constant jump scares. On the bright side, they were authentic jump scares that gave you no warning, but they were so frequent and the audio was violently louder during (and really low any other time) that it irritated the hell out of me.
For being Blair Erickson's directorial debut, he did a good job of shooting a pretty effectively frightening film combined with a script (written by Erickson and Daniel J. Healy) that gave us something interesting that we haven't seen from a lot of horror films. It took a "conspiracy" that a lot of folks know about and turned the spook factor up a notch with otherworldly monsters. That I can respect, because who doesn't love government cover-ups and monsters?
Katia as "Anne" did a great job alongside Ted Levine who's always awesome with that deep, booming voice. It's easy to enjoy Banshee Chapter, I can admit that, but a lot of the technical issues just took away most of the entertainment for me. And it's going to take a lot more than genuine jump scares and goofy ass distorted faces to make me change my mind on a film.
3/5 monsters that want to wear you
Check out the trailer here and catch the film on Netflix:
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