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| Images Courtesy of Antenna Releasing |
Joseph
Scrimshaw's debut feature; Dead Media, is a triumph of independent, low
budget filmmaking. It is both simultaneously an homage to physical media
and a love letter to low budget horror films, presenting one of the most unique
premises in recent memory. Featuring a wonderful duo of performances,
supported by an extremely talented cast and crew, and some of the most original
visuals and concepts for a story of this size, this is essential viewing for
horror fans.
Maggie and her two best friends' movie night is interrupted when her uncle Heppy crashes the party to ensure they watch horror film trashterpiece Night of the Lurchers on (a reputedly haunted) DVD and not via streaming. As the night drones on, Maggie discovers a hidden secret within the DVD’s menu that not only unleashes something terrible, it also significantly extends movie night's duration. Scrimshaw wrote the script and has a role as an interviewer on one of the DVD extras. Uncle Heppy, portrayed by Sam Landman, is the centerpiece. Acting as both a conduit to an era gone bye and as the narrative's exposition dump, Heppy is both comical, obnoxious, and heartwarming. His chemistry with Maggie (Sami-Jack Martincak) is natural, loving, and funny and forms the human foundation that ties the audience to their characters.
Rounding out the cast is Anna Sundberg as the doomed film's mysterious director and James Urbaniak (Oppenheimer) as a professor within the film who mirrors Uncle Heppy in our reality. Sundberg is a scene stealer, mashing together Hollywood frustrations and cosmic conundrums with an edge that is perfect for the kind of filmmaker she is emulating.
Matthias Schubert's cinematography blends with Scrimshaw's editing to create the perfect tempest of a single room chamber piece and cheesy horror throwback. The world of reality is dingy, used, and excessively cozy, while the world of the film within the film is dark and terrifying, filled with lonely college auditoriums and art exhibits of the damned. The eponymous Lurkers are made real both through clever editing techniques and Beki Ingram, Claire Magnus, and Ryan Shaddalee's innovative makeup effects. If there is a true slogan to this production it is "Do more with less."
Now playing in some local theaters and coming to digital on demand on Tuesday July 28th, Dead Media is one of the most creative films of the year thus far. This is the kind of film that knows exactly what it is and it leans into it hard. The result is a wonderfully imperfect horror film that wears its heart on its mangled, vintage sleeve.
-Kyle
Jonathan