Plot: In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SOur3WwZvM
Starring: Jocelin Donahue ("CSI" & He's Just Not That into You), Indie Spirit Award winner Tom Noonan (Synecdoche, New York & Stoney), Saturn award nominee Dee Wallace (E.T & Bedrooms),
Written & Directed by: Ti West (Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever)
Review: Totally awesome radical movie dude! This 80's horror throwback was complete with old school film score, jagged stand-alone camera movements, and a cameo by Dee Wallace of such 80's horror classics Cujo and The Howling . It still managed to scare me, an improvement on most 80's horror films. With most horror films nowadays going the route of either the 70's horror exploitation flick or Asian remake, it's nice to see a filmmaker finally playing around with another style. The first exploitation comeback film was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake in 2003 and Asian remake The Ring in 2002. Isn't it about time we move on? This was a fun, ironically inventive way of using old school film techniques mostly used in the 70's & 80's to create a fun, bloody trip down memory lane.
Fun Facts: Deliberately shot in the same kind of style and using similar techniques as the splatter films of the 70s and the 80s which it emulates. The film is purportedly based on true events but the events it supposedly depicts are never mentioned in the film or in any of its press releases. We can assume that the film is set in 1983 as one of the songs featured is "One Thing Leads to Another" by The Fixx. Shot on 16mm film (very popular in the 80s) to give it a retro stylistic look. The camera frequently zooms in on characters - one of the techniques that were highly favored in the 80s. Nowadays they would have been most likely to dolly in instead. Most of the crew were locally sourced from Connecticut where the film was shot to help keep the costs down. Shot over a period of only 18 days. The film that Samantha watches on TV whilst babysitting is George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Awards:
| Year | Result | Award | Category/Recipient(s) |
| Nominated | Producers Award | ||
Rating:
Writing-B
Acting-A
Directing-A
Music-B
Cinematography-B
Editing-A
Hair-A
Makeup-B
Costumes-B
Art Direction-A
"Stamped Out but worth seeing"
