Hot Picks
|
|
|
The Secret of Sinchanee
USA 2021
produced by Charles Arthur Berg, Nate Boyer, Lynn K. D'Angona, Steven Grayhm, Joe Newcomb (executive) for Team House Studios, Truth Entertainment
directed by Steven Grayhm
starring Steven Grayhm, Tamara Austin, Nate Boyer, Laila Lockhart Kraner, Rudy Reyes, Alexa Luippold, Chris Neville, Emmett Spriggs, Ricky Barksdale, TJ Millard, Raquel Lindemann-Ngyuen, Mark Oliver (voice), Margarita Reyes, Kathleen Kenny, Skylar Schanen, Elena Capaldi, Jacob Schick, Don McAlister, Bryanna Nadeau, Jesse Goddard, Trystyn Roberts, Donna Tierney-Jones
written by Steven Grayhm, music by Gary Rugala, Rycky Ruke, visual effects by Alter Ego
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
A woman is found murdered, and several hundred miles across country,
deep into snowy rural USA, her daughter's car is found abandoned, and
she's found frozen to death not far from the car, her body covered in
weird brandings. Detectives Carrie (Tamara Austin) and Drew (Nate Boyer)
investigate, but they rarely see eye to eye, as they've once been lovers
and have a daughter together, Ava (Laila Lockhart Kraner), but their
breakup wasn't exactly smooth. That said, it doesn't take them long to
find a tailor-made suspect, local car mechanic Will Stark (Steven Grayhm),
the deceased's best friend when they were children, and later her penpal
over the years, who denied even knowing her upon initial questioning.
Also, locals consider him a bit of a weirdo, and schizophrenia apparently
runs in his family, last witnessed with his father who eventually
committed suicide. Also, when he was a kid, his mother and sister were
murdered before his very eyes. But all this isn't even circumstantial
evidence. But there's certainly something wrong with Will, as the audience
soon finds out, as he has visions of his deceased sister Grace (Alexa
Luippold), finds bitemarks on his body with no idea how they go there, and
might experience schizophrenic episodes himself if not worse. Carrie is so
convinced that he has something to do with her case that she eventually
breaks into his home - but what she finds only leads her to a shaman,
Solomon (Rudy Reyes), who tells her about the local natives, the
Sinchanee, his tribe and also the tribe of Will, and even Carrie has
Sinchanee blood in her. Now the Sinchanee were resistant to the settler's
diseases back in the olden days, so the settlers used the Sinchanee death
spirit and turned it against them, and that might be at the center of the
whole case. Apparently now the death spirit zeroes in on Will - but what's
worse, it might also have designs on Carrie and Drew's daughter Ava ... A
very interesting thriller that starts out as your usual serialkiller story
but gradually shifts into supernatural horror, but in a way that it makes
sense, narratively. And a deliberately slow pace only helps the film's
plot to stay on course, as does a direction that relies on subtlety rather
than spectacle, while a fine ensemble keep things grounded. And the snowy
Massachusetts backdrops are nicely filmed and give the film its brooding
atmosphere to make this into a very cool piece of genre cinema.
|
|
|