| Title | The golden age of horror: The Banshee Chapter (2013) |
| Author | Chris Hornbostel and Barac Wiley |
| Posted in | Features |
| When | October 30, 2014 |
Chris:The Banshee Chapter is about mind-control, MKULTRA-like drug experiments. It's a movie about numbers radio stations. It's has Lovecraftian overtones. There's found footage and briefly a documentary style narrative..
Read the full articleI was not (and still am not) at all familiar with number station lore, but as a big Lovecraft fan, I really enjoyed this movie. And I think the line "They want to wear us!" is one of the best and most succinct expressions of a terrifying concept I can recall.
I'm not up on my specifics of numbers stations, but just know they're a big conspiracy theory thing, they do exist, they're in a Wilco song or two, and they're pretty creepy. Beyond that, I kind of also want my knowledge to stay vague, so cool concepts like this can be plugged into whatever they are.
I enjoyed this, but I'm with Chris, I thought the final act almost felt like a different movie. But the other stuff was so effective, and creepy (especially that beginning! loved that), that overall I was pretty happy with this. Another shout out to Tom's interview with the filmmaker, it really is a great listen.
Just watched this tonight and it was suitably creepy for Halloween. I enjoyed the combination of number stations/MKULTRA/Lovecraft in one story and the setup and the way the film played out made me think it would have been a great adventure-horror video game as well (maybe). I thought the way the found footage was pieced together throughout the film worked well even if it did take me out of the experience a bit at times. Certainly a note worthy example of indie horror on a budget and the acting was solid.
