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Jeb (Trevor Peterson) is the head writer of a children's sci fi TV show
... that doesn't do that good in ratings anymore, so the network boss
decides to move him and his fellow writers - seductive Raven (Persia
White), boss's daughter Natalie (Caitlin Gerard), motherly Joan (Melinda
Lee), manly man Billy (Christopher Wolfe) and trouble-riddled ex-alcoholic
Clark (Demetri Goritsas) - to a mountain resort for a month to come up
with scripts for an entire season in recluse. Now Jeb has the idea of
shooting a reality show while there to increase ratings for their program
that way, but that idea's quickly shot down - but not too quickly for Jeb
not to install hidden cameras everywhere, and then watch his fellow
writers from his secret studio to learn some dirty secrets. Meanwhile the
writing sessions don't go so well, as Jeb's neither a leader nor a
people's person, and the others don't necessarily respect him or his ideas
even. Especially Natalie gets fed up with him after a time, so he calls
her daddy to fire Jeb. Frustrated, Jeb returns home to his mother
(Sondra Blake) - but that reunion turns out rather bloodily, which is a
bad thing on one hand - but it gives Jeb the perfect idea to spice up his
"reality show" after all ... Wichita is very
much a mindfuck of a movie - just as its main character mindfucks (or at
least tries to) his co-workers: it zig-zags through multiple genres, from
drama to comedy (or at least media satire), psycho-thriller to slasher,
plays with found footage mainstays (though it's not filmed that way), and
it successfully forces the point of view of a loser turned psychopath onto
the audience, while playing its cards close to the chest, with its
plottwists all coming as total surprises. And a subtle yet atmospheric
directorial effort and strong ensemble cast really help to bring this
movie to life. Nice and off-beat genre entertainment, really!
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