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THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT
Produced by Dana Scanlan
Madison - Madison Charap
Tim - Tim Baldini
Ryan - Ryan Larson
Paul - Paul Palmer IIIFear is a very personal thing. Like falling in love, we have little control over what frightens us. Whether it be creaky boards, spiders, ghosts, the dark, and serial killers, all reach down inside us and trigger something locked deep in our subconscious. THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT plays on all the above.
What I felt while watching this movie was pure terror. It scared the piss out of me and I'm not embarrassed to say so. Perhaps it was the four different meds the doctors put me on this week, or perhaps it's that this is one well executed and frightening film. The horror fan inside of me would like to think it was the latter.
Many people will be turned off by the film's structure, it's another in a seemingly unending line of mock-documentaries inspired by the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The filmmakers know they aren't forging new territory and don't try to hide it. They even go so far as to have one of the characters compare the unfolding events to those in the Summer 1999 mega-hit. Like the similarly ploted, but superior BLACKWOOD EVIL, THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT is one of the few BWP-inspired projects that is actually worth seeing.
Standing in for the haunted woods is a New Orleans mansion. A group of four twenty-somethings must stay one full night and explore every room. Before the night is done the group must "cleanse" the house from the ghosts and with the help of a psychic. They were given only a few rules, they weren't allowed to leave before dawn and they had to leave the cameras running. The goal was to capture haunting activity on tape. If ever there were a house ripe for a haunting it's the one. Through a needlessly long introductory sequence we learn the history behind the haunting and the set up for the "experiment". A former madam of the house used to keep slaves chained to the wall in the kitchen for year-long periods of time, never letting them go even to use the bathroom. In the attic, she would cage and torture the rest. It seems that for the past 150 years, one of them stayed angry.
Unfortunately, the characters themselves undermine the action. None of the characters are allowed to be anything more than a two-dimensional finger painting. You have the film student, the history student, a psychic, and a ghost hunter. With the exception of the psychic, all of the actors do an exceptional job. Then again, how hard is it to be yourself on camera? With the short funning time of 75 minutes, there isn't much one can do in terms of development other then just being yourself.
What makes the film work is the simplicity. No gore effects to detract from the story. No serial killers to tire out the audience. It's the most basic of all fears that the movie plays upon. The movie is the catalyst, the viewer's imagination fills in the blanks. What's more frightening, the monsters that can be seen or the monsters that can't? Find out for yourself, put THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT to the test.