STRAWBERRY ESTATES

Written, Directed, and Produced by Ron Bonk

Jason Knowles - Jason Reed
Sarah Richmond - Chrissy Frick
Dr. Laurel - Bob Fullenbaum
Jennifer Brahms - Lisa Chelenza

STRAWBERRY ESTATES is Ron Bonk's take on the mock-doc, reality-based horror subgenre that has emerged in the limelight of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The history of Ron's film is slightly complicated, he tried to film the movie long before John Pierson every heard of Eduardo Sanchez or Dan Merrick. Most of it was completed with the roles being filled by b-starlets Debbie Rochon and Tina Krasue. After BWP film went to Sundance and turned the industry on its ear, Ron dropped his film completely.

I'm not sure why Ron decided to revisit the film, but I'm glad he did. It might not be the most frightening post-BWP film out there (those honors go to BLACKWOOD EVIL, and THE ST. FRANCESVILLE EXPERIMENT), but it is certainly the most stylized and medium-conscious of the bunch. Playing off the hype of two pop-culture marvels, BWP and the X-Files, the film sells itself as an "FBI Red File", a government reconstruction of documented events leading up to the disappearance of everyone involved with the video shoot. The film follows an investigation into a reportedly haunted sanitarium, the Smith-Garrett Building. The film comes complete with governmental prologs and epilogs. It even excludes any coming attractions and credits. If it weren't for the actor interviews on the Sub Rosa website, or the review blurbs on the video sleeve, Ron might have been able to convince the public of the film's authenticity.

The center of the film is the Smith-Garrett Building, commonly known as Strawberry Estates. Lucio Fulci fans take note, local superstition says the facility was built on a gateway to hell. I've always thought it would be interesting if other filmmakers tried to revisit Fulci's story from THE BEYOND and lent their take on where the other gateways might possibly be. Ron seems to be the only director out there who is up for the challenge.

While not as visually striking as Fulci's New Orleans mansion, the Smith-Garrett Building is genuinely creepy. Filled with long, dark corridors, the facility provides an intense, claustrophobic setting. A good location is crucial to a film like this to work. With the lack of a musical soundtrack, tone and atmosphere rely solely on the location. With BWP the setting was so open that the evil could have been anywhere at anytime, not knowing was why that film worked so effectively. In STRAWBERRY ESTATES we know exactly where everything is. It's up around the corner. The question is "what's around that corner?"

The two leads, Jason Reed and Chrissy Frick, give STRAWBERRY ESTATES some added spunk. These two unknowns, with almost no acting experience, play there roles balls-out. Jason is an opportunist hired to videotape the investigation and Chrissy plays Sarah, an assistant to expedition leader Dr. Laurel. The two give the single best performances of young adults I've seen. There is no smugness or false maturity in their characters, just a fear of the truth. A fear of being vulnerable. A fear of judgment.

Boy, have these kids have come to the wrong place!

Dr. Laurel wants nothing more than to contact the other side. To do so he brings along psychic Jennifer Brahms. The film is actually about these two characters and their decent into hell. They provide the complicated backstory and are the catalyst for the film's events. Through the lens of Jason's video camera we are provided an awkward, first person viewing of their downward spirals.

Ron employs various tricks of the video medium to create a greater sense of authenticity. One of the problems I had with BWP was that the footage was too clean for something exposed to the elements for a year. There were no sound or picture dropouts. That's not the case here, both are in abundance. Ron uses them to not only mask edits, but to hide and reveal information as he sees fit, being careful not to share the film's secrets too early. Timing is pivotal for great horror filmmaking.

Over the past year I've seen countless films released in the shadow of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Many fail to compare, but once in a while one comes along that does everything right. These films aren't rip-offs, they merely find true inspiration in the method of story telling. From there everything else is wholeheartedly unique. STRAWBERRY ESTATES is a that kind of movie. Like an avalanche coming down a mountian, it builds until the last second. That's where the real damage begins.

You can purchase STRAWBERRY ESTATES directly from Sub Rosa Studios