Banshee Chapter

Banshee Chapter
Directed by	Blair Erickson
Produced by	Zachary Quinto
Screenplay by	Blair Erickson
Story by	Daniel J. Healy
Based on	"From Beyond"  by H. P. Lovecraft
Starring	Ted Levine, Katia Winter, Michael McMillian
Music by	Andreas Weidinger
Cinematography	Jeremy Obertone
Editing by	Jacques Gravett
Studio	Sunchaser Entertainment, Before The Door Pictures, Favorit Film
Distributed by	XLrator Media (US)[1] Intense Distribution & 101 Films (UK)
Release dates	August 22, 2013 (2013-08-22) (Fantasy Filmfest) December 12, 2013 (2013-12-12) (United States)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Banshee Chapter (sometimes referred to as The Banshee Chapter) is a 2013 horror film and the directorial debut of Blair Erickson.^[2] The film had its first screening at the Fantasy Filmfest on August 22, 2013 and released on video on demand on December 12 of the same year.^[3] Banshee Chapter stars Katia Winter as a journalist who is trying to discover what happened to a missing friend of hers. The film is loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story "From Beyond" and the 1986 film From Beyond.

Synopsis

The movie begins with stock footage of President Clinton and other people announcing the existence of the government experiment Project MKUltra. The scene then cuts away to camera footage James Hirsch (Michael McMillian), a young man investigating Project MKUltra. While his friend is filming him, James takes the drug used in the experiments, dimethyltryptamine-19 (DMT-19), only to start to experience an extreme amount of anxiety and announce that something is coming and that it wants to "wear them". The camera's footage then cuts in and out, ultimately ending with a shot of James with black eyes and a disfigured looking face. Throughout the film video footage of various patients of Project MKUltra are shown, all of whom experience psychotic breaks while on the drug.

The movie then shifts to Anne (Katia Winter) a reporter that used to attend college with James. She's concerned over his disappearance, as James's friend also mysteriously disappeared a few days after he was questioned by the police. Anne investigates James's house and discovers a VHS cassette that contains footage of the MKUltra experiments as well as a notebook full of various notes about the project. Curious about some of the things found in the house—particularly some information about radio waves—Anne goes to a local expert and discovers that there is a phantom radio station broadcasting bizarre music and seemingly nonsensical letters and numbers. It is believed that the station comes from another dimension or plane of existence. She is informed that the radio broadcast really only broadcasts in the desert, so Anne travels out there one night only to hear noises and become frightened when a monstrous form appears from the darkness.

Anne discovers that a mention of "Friends in Colorado" is related to the counter-culture writer Thomas Blackburn (Ted Levine), a Hunter S. Thompson-esque figure that is known for his drug usage and unpredictable behaviors. She tries to contact him, only to be angrily rebuffed once she mentions Project MKUltra. Anne travels out there and lies to Thomas to gain his confidence. Anne gains access to an acid party that Thomas is holding with his friend Callie (Jenny Gabrielle), only to discover that Thomas has seen through her ruse and tricked her into taking DMT-19 that Callie made. The night quickly sours after this, as Anne is angry at his deception and Callie begins exhibiting the same signs and behaviors that James did earlier in the film. Anne hears some of the bizarre music played by the phantom station and goes to investigate, only to be attacked by a strange entity. Scared, the three hide in Thomas's house in an attempt to avoid the being. Anne and Thomas fall asleep and wake to find Callie missing. They decide to go to Callie's house to see if she's there as well as try to find out more information about where Callie got the DMT-19 from. Anne is nearly captured by Callie, who is now taken over by the monstrous and otherworldly entity. She and Thomas begin to realize that DMT-19 works as a "radio antenna" of sorts that allows the otherworldly entities to broadcast signals to the people on the drug as well as take over their bodies. They also realize that the government never came up with DMT-19 but instead received instructions from the otherworldly entities and made the drug without realizing the full implication of their actions.

At this point Anne realizes that the signal is likely coming from the laboratory that performed the Project MKUltra experiments, which is in the same desert that the radio broadcast was coming from. Shortly after this revelation, Thomas reveals that he had lied about giving her DMT-19. Realizing that the entity will pursue her regardless, Anne resolves to put an end to the broadcast once and for all. She and Thomas travel out into the desert and discover the laboratory, which was in an abandoned fallout shelter. Before entering, Thomas takes a can of gasoline so that they may burn whatever they find inside. After wandering around for a short time, the two find a room full of radio equipment and a large tank. Upon inspecting a small porthole built into the side, Anne discovers that a pale figure with black eyes resides within. At this point, the radio equipment comes to life and begins broadcasting the numbers station. Realizing that they must burn the creature and the equipment, Anne looks for the tank, only to find that Thomas has left it somewhere else in the facility. Rushing out of the room and into the hall so as to retrieve it, Anne sees a grotesque figure approaching. After rushing inside and closing the door, Thomas begins to bleed from the eyes and convulse violently. Apologizing to Anne, he shoots himself in the head.

Realizing that the creature will break open the door at any moment, Anne hides in a closet. Despite her best efforts, however, the creature discovers her and rips open the closet doors. Screaming, Anne rushes out of the broadcast room, grabbing the flashlight on her way out. While running through the corridors of the derelict facility, Anne comes across the gasoline left by Thomas. Picking it up she rushes back to the broadcast room and locks the door. The creature, not far behind, begins pounding on the door in an attempt to break through. In a frenzy, Anne smashes open the portal in the tank, pours the gasoline inside, and throws a lighter scavenged from Thomas' corpse. The resulting explosion knocks Anne unconscious. When she comes to, she finds the clothing worn by her friend James before his disappearance laying outside in the hallway, implying that the creature had been "wearing" James the whole time.

Anne is taken into police custody and one of her co-workers travels down to ensure that she's OK. She and Anne discuss the events that have happened so far, including the tape that Anne had discovered earlier in the movie. Part of the tape had been erased, but had been retrieved by a video forensics company. Anne then muses that she can't understand why James's friend had disappeared, as he had never taken the drug. She then begins to hear the music coming from the phantom broadcast and realizes that there is still a link to the other dimension. Anne then comes to the realization that the effects of the drug can be passed along by human touch, as she still saw the monstrous entities despite never having taken the drug - which is why James's friend disappeared as well. She then turns to discover that her co-worker has been taken over and the film then cuts to the recovered footage on the tape, which reveals that a college-age Thomas was one of the people that had taken part in Project MKUltra as a test subject.

Cast

• Ted Levine as Thomas Blackburn
• Katia Winter as Anne Roland
• Michael McMillian as James Hirsch
• Monique Candelaria as Patient 14
• Chad Brummett as Dr. Kessle
• Jenny Gabrielle as Callie
• J.D. Garfield as Elderly Doctor
• Alex Gianopoulos as Renny Seegan
• David Midthunder as Raoul
• Vivian Nesbitt as Olivia Kmiec
• Ben Samuels as Science Editor
• Cyd Schulte as Laura Henrik
• William Sterchi as Henry Cale

Production

While creating Banshee Chapter, Erickson was inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, From Beyond, as well as the history of hallucinogenic drug experiments performed by the United States Government.^[4] Ted Levine was one of the first people cast for the movie, but casting the lead of Anne was more difficult and Erickson auditioned "several hundred" women before deciding on Katia Winter.^[4] Erickson also experienced difficulty with the film's limited budget and filming timeline, as they only had 28 days to film Banshee Chapter.^[4] As a result, some characters were eliminated from the beginning of the script in order to fit the limited shooting schedule.^[4]

Reception

Critical reception for Banshee Chapter has been mostly positive.^[5] Common praise for the film centered around Winter and Levine's performances,^[6] with both Screen Daily and Fearnet marking the performances as a highlight.^[7][8] Shock Till You Drop gave an overall negative review, praising Winter and Levine's performances but stating that "like many retellings [of Lovecraft's From Beyond] in this day and age, it’s already been done better".^[9]

References

External links

• Official website
• Banshee Chapter at the Internet Movie Database
• Banshee Chapter at Rotten Tomatoes