Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Beyond the Shadows
Directed by David James Gustafson
Great Gus Productions
93 minutes, 2020
There is an entire subgenre
on the topic of a collective of ghost hunters, ranging from the big budget ones
like The Haunting (1962), The Legend of Hell House (1973), Poltergeist (1982), and The
Conjuring (2013), to mostly indies like Grave Encounters (2011), Todd
Sheet’s Ouija Death Trap (2014), and this one. The major differences are
the smaller funded releases tend to be in the found footage (FF) style; this
one is a mixture of both FF and linear (though it all appears to be hand-held
camera action).
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| Brianna Piage Dague, Tyler Roy Roberts, Tyler Ryan |
During the extended eight-minute
prologue before the opening credits, we meet the ghost hunter crew who host a cable
television show called, of course, “Beyond the Shadows.” Led by the dashing family
man and aptly-named Drexler “Drex” Faust (Tyler Roy Roberts), they include his
assistant and “ladies man” Jonathon Coxman (Sam Olive), and their cameraman, Sammy
(Westin Hedin), the latter of whom talks in an annoyingly profane, “bro” and “dude”
language that gets on the nerves quite quickly. You may notice that name of the
roles are easily identifiable with traits related to the film; it’s a fun game
to connect the meanings and the characterizations.
You can see lots of
shows like this on cable, as well, such as “Ghost Hunters,” “Ghost Adventures,”
and so many others. Where’s James
Randi when you need him, eh? We are getting there...
Like many of those
programs, “Beyond the Shadows” is a bunch of entrepreneurs (i.e., fakers) trying
to cash in on peoples’ fear of the unknown, death and the afterlife. Their next
gig, and the major portion of this film, deals with the Chetco River Lodge,
Washington State, where a couple of white settlers apparently killed a large
number of Native Americans in the mid-19th Century. And, Drex is filled with
hubris that you know, if you follow these kinds of films, is going to bite him
and the group in the ass.
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| Gabrielle Malate |
For this new venture,
they are bringing others along (collectively known as the body count). Of
course, there is the detractors and debunkers, in this case Dr. Calvin Harding
(Cameron Lee Price) in the Great Randi role, with his assistant Dr. Emma Bright
(Stevie Mae), and his own cameraperson and younger brother, Keith (Alex
McIntire), to give another angle for editing the film I am assuming; smart move.
While most of the film crew are worried about bringing the doc along, they are
to be joined by psychic Phantasma Spectre (Gabrielle Malate) and “superfans” hot-for-Drex
Ashley (Brianna Paige Dague), hot-for-Drex Rooster (Tyler Ryan) who is an amateur
taxidermist in his “gay-rage,” and stoner Lou (Apostolos Gliarmis), who is apparently
really into deli-meat sandwiches. Also joining along are the crew’s friend, producer
and on-air talent Bryan (Derrick Woodrin), and “groupies” (as Coxman calls
them) Holly (Ella Anderson) and Eve (Lindsay Gustafson).
While a dark comedy, bits
of it is pretty broad, such as the characterization of Monty (Ty Boice), who
runs the Lodge. He is neat, tidy, particular and peculiar. You know he knows
more than he is letting on, as he is quite joyous about the hauntings.
Despite the comedy,
there is a serious element in here as well, and that is the European/Settlers treatment
of the Native Americans. Bryan has a concentrated speech about some of that,
which I’m sure will just go over the heads of many stoned and drunk viewers of
the film who may consider this part a downer, but I really am glad they are
addressing it. This will be a key, underlying theme to the film that will tie
everything together.
About the half-way
point, the film kicks into a new gear as the group convenes at the lodge, and
we get to meet all the new and relevant characters at once. It is a large group
of nearly a dozen, so there is a chance for lots of bodies to pile up.
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| Alex McIntire, Cameron Lee Price |
There is tension in
the four groups, between the film crew who is trying to put one over on the skeptics,
the scientists who not only disbelieve in spirits but are quite perturbed about
it all, the uber-fans who are excited to be there in creepy fanboy (and girl)
ways, and the psychic (a group of one).
Throughout the film
there are flickers to indicate video “noise,” which I am going to guess are
subliminal images, but I’m watching this online and my computer doesn’t do
frame-by-frame; that’s something you may look forward to doing.
The effects are… well,
the physical SFX look good, but thanks to budgetary constraints, most of the
killings are done out of camera sight. However, the after-effects look great.
There is one major digital FX that looks kind of cartoonish, but being a micro-budget
release and the fact they only do that once that I can tell, I’ll let it pass
as it did not ruin the experience of the whole film for me. Most of the acting
is rather good, with Roberts, Woodrin and Malate coming off the best.
This film is truly a Gustafson
family affair, with a few actors and a surprising number of the crew carrying
the surname. Kudos for that, as I’m sure that cut the costs enormously (if it
was done right).
Anyone who is a
regular reader of this blog knows that I am not necessarily a fan of FF films,
but combining it with a more standardized format (though handheld), makes it
more palatable. As for the story, it was surprisingly interesting and even though
there is easily 10 minutes that could have been excised from the final cut
(such Racoon’s taxidermy story in the driveway), this kept my interest,
especially during the second half. So, dude, if you are a bro and want to see
some better-than-Paranormal Activity action, this may be your slice of
pie. Shall we put it on in the gay-rage? You can see the full film for free on
YouTube HERE.
