| The Collective | |
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The Collective poster |
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| Directed by | Judson Pearce Morgan Kelly Overton |
| Produced by | Judson Pearce Morgan Kelly Overton |
| Written by | Judson Pearce Morgan Kelly Overton |
| Starring | Kelly Overton Laura Allen Donnie Keshawarz Shane McRae Wynn Everett |
| Music by | Kamel Boutros |
| Cinematography | Judson Pearce Morgan |
| Editing by | Judson Pearce Morgan |
| Distributed by | Fabrication Films |
| Release date(s) | June 2008 (BiFF) |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Collective is a 2008 American independent horror film written, directed, and produced by Judson Pearce Morgan and Kelly Overton. The film was released to film festivals in 2008 and is slated for theatrical release in 2009.[1][2][3]
Contents |
Tyler Clarke (Kelly Overton) receives a terse voice-mail from her sister Jessica (Wynn Everett) asking for help, but with no reason given. There is no response to her return calls, so Tyler takes the red-eye to New York to seek her sister. Jessica has disappeared, so Tyler must find her. Her search leads her to "The Collective" a spiritually void group that practices depraved sexual rituals in a deconsecrated cathedral, only to discover that her sister is now one of them.[4]
Justin Tanzer of Off Off Off gave a mixed review of the film, writing that the film "lacks believability and high stakes. It is short on thought. It takes place in isolation, lacking meaningful interaction between the characters and anybody outside conspiracy-land", but granting the "movie's most redeeming feature is that it's well crafted from a technical point of view. Director/cinematographer Morgan, who has been primarily an actor up to now, has done a fantastic job behind the camera. The light and colors are simply beautiful. It would be a pleasure to see more of his work".[1] In her review of the film, Robyn Hillman-Herrigan of Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that the film was winner of the Audience Choice Award at the 2008 Brooklyn International Film Festival and that the husband-wife team of Kelly Overton and Judson Pearce wanted to make a "‘Bourne Identity’- type suspense thriller on a low budget."[5] When commenting about The Collective screening at the festival, Tom Boyd of Real Vail wrote of Kelly Overton, "[she] is just the kind of star Vail attracts: she’s young, up-and-coming, and about to debut in the leading role in her first feature film ".[6]
The Collective has been screening at multiple film festivals through 2008 and 2009,[5][7][8][9] and has received recognition at many, including: