Director: Don Swanson
Writer: Don Swanson (Screenplay)
Starring: Alexa Mechling, Ava Psoras, Betsy George, Joe Fishel, Jace Armentrout
Plot: Cassandra awakens to a nightmare as her pleas to be seen and heard by her sister Clara are taken as supernatural occurrences.
Tagline – See me. Hear me.
Runtime: 20 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Horror with Potential
Story: Occurrence at Mills Creek starts with the funeral of Cassandra (Mechling) the younger sister of Clara (Psoras) is going through the formalities with the family including the estranged father Victor (Fishel). Over the night Clara relives the incident which led to Clara’s death, but an unusual set of events make the night filled with questions as Cassandra awakens trying to communicate with her sister.
Thoughts on Occurrence at Mills Creek
Characters – Emily is the older sister that is dealing with her sister’s death and putting herself the only family member left alive, because of her hatred towards her father. She experiences unusual night, which spreads the light on what happened to her sister. Cassandra is the younger sister that’s funeral it is, she does wake up and is stuck in a limbo between worlds, not knowing whether she is alive or not.
Performances – Ava Psoras in the leading role is strong and as we are uncertain of her own actions, which comes through in the performance. The rest of the cast show how they will impact the film in the future.
Story – The story is only the beginning of a bigger story, it follows how the sister’s relationship was before and even after one of their deaths. This does have a lot going on with how Clara is dealing with the death of her sister and how Cassandra doesn’t believe she is actually dead, with the events setting up the idea that the two will have their own stories to tell, we are left wanting to see more too.
Horror – The horror here shows the difficulties that both sisters will be facing when it comes to what is going on with their situations in the story.
Settings – The film uses the few settings to show where the current events are happening, while the flashbacks show where the big incident happens.
Final Thoughts – This is a short horror that does offer up the questions which could be answered in the feature film, hopefully next year.
Overall: Short showing the potential for more.
