Review: Occurrence at Mills Creek

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet

Occurrence at Mills Creek
Directed by Don Swanson
Spruce Films
84 minutes, 2020
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What is smart, in my opinion? Starting small and then expanding. Case in point: this film began as a short with the same title (reviewed HERE). After working out the kinks, it has now been expanded to a full-length feature. It’s kind of like writing a novel and setting up an outline first. With the same core cast who now comprehend the roles better than probably just sitting around a cast table read, they are starting with an understanding of their character’s motivations. The short could almost be seen as OJT (On-the-Job-Training).

 

Ava Psoras, Betsy Lynn George, Alexa Mechling

The backbone of the story, to start, is more or less an intense family psychological drama, told in the present and via flashbacks, where half of the family is dead within the first five minutes, with certainly more to follow. The focus is on college-age Clara (Ava Psoras), who is not having a good time. First her mom, Emily (Betsy Lynn George, Ava’s real-life mom, who has credits including 1996’s Petticoat Planet – one of the first DVDs I owned – and in Billy Idol’s infamous “Cradle ofLove” music video)  passes on, and then her 15 year-old sister Cassandra (Alexa Mechling) goes and drowns by the lake’s dock after an argument with Clara; meanwhile, her estranged and physically abusive lothario father, Victor (Joel Fishel), is coming around for the funerals and trying to get back into Clara’s life before... well, you’ll see.

In the prologue we see mom shipping off, and then pick up at Cassandra’s farewell. During the funeral scene, one of many in the film, as Clara and her father stand together while a line of well-wishers go by, I could honestly emphasize with Clara’s muted and disjointed reactions to the overwhelming stream of humanity to the point of almost boredom as I felt that exact same way in that position with the passing of my parents.

From the beginning, we are given slivers of scenes in non-chronological order for the first 20 minutes or so, covering most of the content and about the length of the original short, though it never loses its sense of moodiness. After about 20 minutes, the film settles down into a more narrative form, but in the shadows, there is always something off, with the spirits of mom and sis mostly silently popping in every once in a while to remind Clara that things are not quite right.

There are indications that make the viewer wonder how much is real and what proportion is within Clara’s noggin. Are these spirits she’s seeing really happening, in her mind, or visions/warnings/hints to the audience that only she can actually see?

Clara is not exactly likeable, full of built up anger and attitude, but her equally sullen, flat moods fit in with the tone of the film. She’s a rich, privileged woman in long fake eyelashes whose family helped build up the town of Mills Creek. But, of course, there is a deep and dark family secret that she will investigate and figure out, or possibly give in to it. That’s the viewers’ job, to explore it with her.

There are some hints of blood letting here and there throughout the film, but we don’t get to witness excess until the conclusion catches up with the story, making it stark and shocking, which works the better for the overall plotline. Much of the film has quite the languid pace, so when the action occurs, it’s all the more unexpected.

The entire film looks beautiful in widescreen. There is a bit of artiness that may get lost on some shock-mavens, but as I said, the film is mostly evenly paced, giving the viewer time to mull over the actions on the screen, and try to piece it all together. It definitely has the feel and tempo of many thoughtful Scandinavian films or television shows (though it was filmed in the Pittsburgh area), but I like that.

This is only the second feature for director Swanson, other than quite a number of shorts including documentaries and music videos (two for this film, which will certainly show up on the disc), though the only one I’ve seen is the abbreviated earlier version of this film. This release shows an enormous amount of talent and thoughtfulness. Plus getting Betsy Lynn George and also MaLinda Parker (aka Lynda Maroni), who appeared in the early George A. Romero films Season of the Witch (1972) and The Crazies (1973), both to come out of retirement to appear here, shows his talent to draw others to him. That’s a good sign of things to come, I would imagine.