“A
simple, low-budget film that
nevertheless achieves a great deal
of fright-appeal as, with shades of
the excellent Cloverfield, the exploration
of a creepily-haunted abandoned
asylum is filmed by a team of students
for a college project in The Paranormal
Incident...”
PLANNING A COLLEGE PROJECT to prove or disprove the existence of the paranormal
in a former mental asylum that is chillingly haunted, a group of young students
plan to produce a film but get more than they bargained for.
Armed with cameras and recording equipment, the students enter by the only entrance
of the infamous Odenbrook Sanatorium, which was closed sixty years previously,
in 1949, after a mass suicide took place there.
The
Sanatorium was opened in 1921 to house "those who were deemed not fit for society".
A doctor had also died there under strange circumstances and there were reports
of voices being heard and shadowy figures being seen in the building.
“The
Paranormal Incident
is eerily creepy and
stylishly amateurish with
a good deal
of fright-appeal...”
Tess
(Sabrina Villalobos) and John (Oliver Rayon) are close friends who believe wholeheartedly
in the paranormal and have even set up a little diversion which is to go horribly
wrong.
Samantha
(Chelsea Vincent), Daniel (Derrick Scott, Blake (Nadia Underwood) and Brennon
(Brett Edwards) see the project as a bit of fun, but when on the first night
John has to leave, strange and disturbing things start to happen.
One by one, members of the group go missing without a sound. Cell phones mysteriously
vanish and when the remaining students panic and try to find their way back
to the entrance they find that the maze of corridors and doors they have passed
through are no longer there.
Recalling the shockingly-brutal treatment of the patients by some of the staff
at the asylum, the students find that they are attracting frightening entities
that even the most sceptical among them cannot deny. Flashlights are failing
and something or someone begins toying with the group. But it is the results
of the camera and sound equipment that make them realise they cannot ignore
the truth.
John wakes up four days later in a hospital bed and is unable to recall how
he got there. He is covered in blood, cuts and bruises and is experiencing terrifying
flashbacks. A lady called Rebecca (Amanda Barton) is questioning him and tells
him that his friends have disappeared without trace.
The suggestion is that the confused and frightened John has murdered them all.
But as he and Rebecca run through the footage from the cameras, recordings and
the building's CCTV, John realises he must piece together what happened from
the evidence and his hazy subconscious to discover the truth about the missing
days.
Did John really murder his friends in some sort of savage jealous outburst?
Or is something more sinister, more frightening, to blame for their disappearances?
The truth is somewhere out there…
The Paranormal Incident is eerily creepy and stylishly amateurish with a good
deal of fright-appeal. Not too nasty and a little tame but with enough mini-quakes
to keep up the pace. The film begins enticingly with credits accompanied by
sepia-tinted photographs reminiscent of a silent movie that give the impression
of an actual historical event. Spooky stuff.
Director of Photography is Lincoln Lewis; Music is by Alexander Bornstein. Executive
Producers include Sabine Villalobes and Janet Saunders. Produced by Rob Filson;
Chris W Freeman; and Justin Jones. Story by Chris W Freeman and Matthew Bolt.
Written and directed by Matthew Bolt.
•The Paranormal Incident is released by Arrow Films on DVD on 23 July
2012. Running Time: 82 Minutes | RRP £12.99. Extras include scene selection
and trailer.
"The Paranormal Incident is eerily creepy and stylishly amateurish with
a good deal of fright-appeal" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar
“A
simple, low-budget film that