Indie Film Review “Echoes of Dread” A throwback to 80’s-style camp forms the basis for a genre-jumping romp into influencers, uncanny film footage, and monstrous machinations
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
The day and age we live in. Watching time pass, we have come to acknowledge, reluctantly or otherwise, that technology maintains its hold over us. Guiding so much of our adventure forward, whether in business or in our personal lives, the dominance of tech’s hold remains that undeniable influence. Yet, what would occur when unearthing old film footage becomes FAR more than just a glimpse into the past, but rather a harbinger of doom in the present?
Social media content creators Samantha (Michelle Principi) and Reuben (Austin Greene) specialize in the strange, the spooky, the macabre, with enough success to forge ahead with their endeavors. However, when they catch wind of some archival film footage of a decidedly unnerving sort out of Russian which was being researched by archaeologist Rick Harding (Rick Foucheux), it sends them on a quest to find it….with results that are less historical as they are horrifying.
Next, my Mind:
Today’s social media-driven frenzy, the concept of its ability to influence, and the overall manner in which content is conveyed to the masses (MUCH to their detriment!) adopts a genre-mash-up identity thanks to the newest indie feature film from writer/director/producer/cinematographer/editor Philip J. Cook, producer Mark Hyde, plus associate producers Dale Critzer and Benjamin Redder that pays complete and effective homage to the 80’s-style camp that created cult classics. With its sic-fi/horror blend firmly in hand, I will first state that when I originally reviewed a film from Cook, 2020’s “Pungo: A Witch’s Tale“, the meshing of genres actually did NOT work for me, admittedly creating within a hesitation about future works, should I ever have the opportunity to view one. Here we are, at that exact circumstance, and I am honestly glad to state that THIS time, the same approach worked a LOT better for me, both narratively and visually.
With Cook maintaining this direction but doing so, I felt, with a much more polished yet very purposefully composed air of the aforementioned campiness and over-the-top insanity, the narrative sees a social media, YouTube-inspired couple learning with emphatic clarity and through horrifying experience that sometimes putting certain content out there simply isn’t the best thing to do, no matter whether its fits their kind of subject matter or not! A combination of flashbacks, conceived archival film footage, and then the contemporary mayhem that ensues when such (it turns out cursed!) footage is all presented to an unsuspecting world in error plays into the ambiance of not only the previously established sci-fi/horror realms, but also, to a certain extent, mildly comedic facets as well. Mind you, this is NOT a bad thing. Truthfully, think “Evil Dead 2”. Everything is just so intentionally exaggerated, that it’s plain FUN in the midst of being creepy and fantastical.
And please understand, I am NOT saying this film IS a comedy. Again, there are just moments that come across as more amusing than scary. The horror elements are quite unsettling, especially if you were to put yourself IN the situations depicted. Additionally, the underlying statement this film, in my opinion, makes ABOUT the insidious nature of the worldwide social media engine and its means to pull people in, sometimes TO damaging results (albeit not people-consuming monsters, of course!) is spot on and more than relevant to our contemporary realities about the things we allow ourselves to get placed in our heads, cause us to react, and let’s be frank, CAN control us. Placing that cornerstone concept into the scenario this film delivers lends its own magnitude of eeriness to events and almost makes this an awareness-raising effort, granted in a more eccentric way.
Visually the mix of practical and special effects is executed with far more quality than I had felt with “Pungo”, and it was a pleasant surprise to see that progression from Cook & Co. The creatures are a total tribute to the 80’s, and that’s absolutely perfect. It’s menace mixed with madcap, but not to the extent that the latter causes the grander seriousness of the film to be lost. The finale is definitively one for the campy ages, and beautifully accompanies all the proceedings that lead up to it. Principi and Greene are a wonderful, energetic, and engaging duo, and this is not to take anything away from their individual performances here. It’s more to say that their chemistry is evident and therefore plays well for their roles as Samantha and Reuben, a couple whose online channel focuses on the wonderful and more so weird stumbling upon an opportunity they cannot pass up.
Once they latch onto the rumblings about a recently deceased archeologist and the century-old Russian film footage he was researching, choosing to hunt it down and see it for themselves, which goes quite south at speed. Can they manage to team up with two men familiar with what is transpiring to help end an invasion that would destroy the world? It’s a classic ode to the “unexpected/reluctant heroes” vibe, and through their performances, Principi and Greene each bring an apropos level of dramatic and intentionally overstated zeal to the characters that so adeptly befits all we see and that this narrative demands. Mark Hyde makes his presence known with equal skill and entertaining bravado through his role as Mr. G, an enigmatic and initially spooky denizen of the B&B Samantha and Reuben are staying at while investigating the film and its soon-to-be-revealed nefarious spirit.
Once he knows about the couple’s intent, Mr. G makes it a point to get involved and soon has the couple totally immersed in the actual horror that has been unleashed and who has already had integral experience with the entities in play. I loved this “everyman”/tough guy/”warrior” aura Hyde infuses into the character, emotively conveying a calculated air of seriousness in how Mr. G manages the situation at hand, which is both amusing and legitimately significant. Mike Cuccherini arrives as Norman, Mr. G’s close friend and right hand man in the fight against the evil essence that threatens to take over the world. Looking on the surface like someone who would be potential cannon fodder possibly, Norman is instead highly skilled in his own right and contributes with maximum effort to the cause Mr. G has as well as educating and even training Samantha and Reuben for the fight to come.
Norman soon becomes that tough yet totally affable character you completely love to root for, and Cuccherini certainly plays this character’s nature up to the fullest extent to elicit this response from us as a viewer while also getting the chance to have some entertaining instances in a fashion we anticipate in a film of this style. Primary supporting roles come first from Rick Foucheux as Rick Harding, the archeologist whose discovery and research into the archival film footage serves as the catalyst for the craziness that manifests. Christopher Winter is Sheriff Winter, local law enforcement who isn’t so thrilled with the young couple being there to dig into things they really shouldn’t and is a sore spot for the town. Sam Lunay and Jean Rosolino and Wilbur and Winfred, the proprietors of the B&B that Samantha, Reuben, and Mr. G utilize as their home base in the fight against the malevolent forces at work.
Additional supporting roles arrive from Hain Laramore, Andrea Hyde, Katie Belic, Zerin Basha, Morgan Tanner, Norman Gagnon, Helen Cook, Jacob Tanner, and Philip J. Cook. So, in total, “Echoes of Dread” works efficiently through not pretending to be anything else than what it is, a stimulating piece of “just-sit-back-and-relax” cinematic camp, created through a nostalgic genre mash-up with freakishness and light frivolity intertwined within it while also making a not-so-veiled declaration about social media’s power over us. Forbid that any force would find the means to use it the way it is portrayed here, but it DOES make one think twice perhaps about just WHAT content we choose to imbibe and have any form of actual dominion over our humanity, a cautionary tale wrapped in a sci-fi/horror shell.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
