Dear Brett,

It's easy to imagine you heading off to the first day of shooting with a resigned sigh. After all, micro-budget horror films with first time directors aren't necessarily known for being consistent in their quality. Probably a pleasant surprise for you, then, that The Banshee Chapter manages to rise above the schlock typically found spilling out of Walmart $5 DVD bins; it blends the fictional (the writings of H.P Lovecraft) and the all-too-real (Project MKUltra, a decades spanning government program that sought to develop mind control) to highly chilling effect.

I have no way of knowing in what order the film was shot, but perhaps the sequence that kicks everything off was the one that made you realize you wouldn't have to endure listening to amateur actors stumbling over bland, lifeless dialogue. In the scene, a young man investigating MKUltra ingests a drug used in the trials, only moments later becoming aware of - and falling victim to - an entity beyond comprehension. The quiet conviction in actor Michael McMillian's voice as he states that some thing is approaching the house is deeply unsettling, and perhaps, as you recorded, you even felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up a little. I certainly did.

The other performances are just as compelling. Katia Winter is solid as an investigative journalist who uncovers evidence of arcane scientific experiments involving interdimensional beings as she seeks to make sense of her friends' disappearance. And it's always fun to see Ted Levine chew the scenery, this time as a reclusive, Hunter S. Thompson-esque author. There are some nice little character beats as well, like when Winter reflects upon her unspoken feelings for her friend once it's clear he's beyond saving, and when Levine gradually lets it be known that he isn't quite the cynical, burnt-out ass he makes himself out to be. These aren't bombastic, Oscar-clip type moments, but they helps us invest in the plight all the more.

Despite some awkward bits of dialogue - most notably the cutesy, slightly forced namedropping of Lovecraft himself - the scripting is strong throughout, playing with the concept that the things we can't see are infinitely scarier than what we can. The one big stumbling block is a last-minute reveal that seems to go against much of the previously established "rules" -- it feels like a surprise ending for a surprise ending's sake. That is to say: cheap. I wouldn't be a surprised, Brett, if you had to stifle a grimace when it came time to film that last scene.

But it's easy to forgive a horror film's narrative shortcomings when it's actually able to, you know, scare you. Far and away, Banshee Chapter's greatest strength is the sound design that you and your boom mic contributed to. As far as the devices typically used to foreshadow the arrival of the Big Bad go, it's pretty hard to beat the numbers station: a ghostly radio frequency consisting of garbled music and a child's voice counting down in multiple languages. It's an incredibly effective way of letting us know that something awful is on the way.

Despite some hiccups, here's hoping the next indie horror project you work on (providing there is one, of course) ends up being just as strong as this.