Review: ‘Occurrence at Mills Creek' (2020)

Swanson’s feature film succeeds at evoking subliminal emotions from viewers. It, certainly, is a step-up from his pervious work, and excites me for the future of his filmmaking career. It’s clear that there is a vision from the director — at the hea

★★★

NR - Drama, Thriller, Horror (84 minutes)

“Haunted by the death of her sister, a young woman’s reality erodes as she is plagued by a darkness hidden in her family’s past.”

— Official Synopsis

It’s true, we have been slacking BIG TIME lately; we meant to get this review out by the time Halloween came around, but unfortunately, we couldn’t quite meet that deadline. Fear not, though, as we have more horror content to discuss today! Don Swanson (A Wish for Giants, What Was Lost) is back for another feature film. This time, Swanson opts to explore the decaying mind, and tragedy, through a supernatural lens. Based on the short film of the same name, the storyfollows Clara (Ava Psoras) as she is dealt a handful of grief and despair; her mother’s tragic passing leaves Clara and her sister, Cassandra (Alexa Mechling), broken and defeated. Soon after, Cassandra passes away leaving Clara and her father, Victor (Joe Fishel), to reconnect. The relationship doesn’t mend itself entirely, though, as Victor, too, passes.

For anyone that has dealt with numerous losses in succession like this (as I have), the narrative certainly feels familiar and true. While we are all, figuratively, haunted by our ghosts, here it becomes a reality for Clara — even if it implies psychological distress. As far as the musical composition, composer Mark D’Errico sufficiently matches the eerie attitude of the score to Swanson’s visual landscape. However, there are a few points throughout where the composition doesn’t quite fit the mood of some frames: most notably in the first third of the feature. Additionally, Mia Zanotti, former contestant on The Voice, adds even more depth to the underlying tone with great vocals. Perhaps, the weakest aspect of Occurrence at Mills Creek is the audio mix of the dialogue, which is truly distracting in the first several minutes. The rough edges of dialogue are, luckily, smoothed over by the accompanying score, though.

Each of the performances are solid, however, the dialogue is a little stale. As far as the script, however, I suppose the vagueness is what ultimately protrudes through to weaken the impact of dialogue. It just doesn’t feel natural, especially paired with some awkward staging in a few scenes. The effect, in turn, is a constant struggle to find much entertainment in large chunks of the film. There are significant portions of Occurrence at Mills Creek in which nothing substantive is happening to — or with — the characters. While the inaction of the supernatural elements separates the film from most modern horror, it becomes a little tired; potentially dampening the affect of the truly beautiful, haunting imagery. Swanson’s montage, the actual stitching of scenes together, is nothing short of exceptional. Occurrence at Mills Creek interweaves between past and present with ease. I think of a particular scene shortly after Cassandra’s death, in which Clara lays on her couch gazing at a picture they took together; the succession of shots is so powerful, and perfectly captures a moment of reflection for Clara.

Even with the aforementioned flaws, Swanson’s feature film succeeds at evoking subliminal emotions from viewers. It, certainly, is a step-up from his pervious work, and excites me for the future of his filmmaking career. It’s clear that there is a vision from the director — at the heart of Occurrence at Mills Creek is emotional resonance. Much like A Wish for Giants, the film urges viewers to reflect on their own feelings and encourages empathy. If Halloween was a little lackluster for you this year and you want more spooky stories, I encourage you to watch the short film available on Amazon Prime right now!

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B088YNTV7Z/ref=atv_un_6h9_c_OcGi58_brws_2_1