Banshee Chapter (B-)

You'll never drop acid again.

What do you get when you cross a tenacious reporter, a government conspiracy, a Hunter S. Thompson wannabe, and references to HP Lovecraft?

Banshee Chapter is a film I'd scrolled past on Netflix any number of times. However, when I saw it advertised by Arkham Bazaar, a shop that sells Lovecraftian memorabilia, I decided to give it a shot. It's a low budget movie that is a little rough around the edges, but it kept me wanting to know what surprises were in store for me at the film's end.

Katia Winter portrays Anne Roland, a reporter investigating the mysterious disappearance of her friend, James Hirsch (Michael McMillian). James had been researching a secret government program called MKUltra, which utilized experimental drugs on unsuspecting test subjects in an attempt to control human behavior. The drug in question, dimethyltryptamine-19 (or DMT-19) is a powerful hallucinogen with mysterious properties and effects.

Prior to his disappearance, James acquired a dose of DMT-19 from a mysterious source and ingested it while being video-recorded by his friend, Renny (Alex Gianopoulos). During the video, James takes the drug and begins to behave strangely as Renny continues to record. In the end, James disappears and Renny is questioned by police in regards to his missing friend. A few days later, Renny also vanishes without a trace.

James prepares to ingest some DMT-19 for posterity.

Anne investigates James' house, where his experiment took place. She locates clues, including an old VHS tape that contains recordings from MKUltra experiments utilizing DMT-19. She also locates a note that was sent to James along with the drug which is signed by his "Friends in Colorado." It turns out that the signature relates to a Hunter S. Thompson-like author by the name of Thomas Blackburn (Ted Levine).

Though rebuffed by Blackburn when she attempts to contact him by phone, Anne isn't so easily dissuaded. She lies to gain his trust and is later invited back to his home for a party with his chemist friend Callie (Jenny Gabrielle) who (incidentally) can make DMT-19. Blackburn proves to be too smart for Anne's act and turns the tables on her, so to speak.

"It puts the hallucinogen in the shot glass."

After a few freaky things happen at Blackburn's place, Callie disappears and Anne and Blackburn go to locate her. Along the way, more freaky things happen. Blackburn brings up the subject of Lovecraft's story, From Beyond, and his wild theories about what DMT-19 actually does. By the end of the film his theories are proven out, and Anne is definitely made into a believer.

Though it can be slow at times, I found Banshee Chapter to be enjoyable. Snippets of footage from the MKUltra experiments are seeded between the action, and these are tense and somewhat freaky. Though the real scares are few and far between (and consist mostly of surprise "gotchas!"), there is an underlying unease that pervades the entire movie. The film's connection (however tenuous) to actual events and government experiments also adds to the tension.

Anne and Blackburn keep in touch as she does the hard work.

Overall, the acting in Banshee Chapter is fine. Ted Levine (who you might remember as Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in Silence of the Lambs) steals the show with his portrayal of the eccentric and drugged-out Thomas Blackburn, and Katia Winter does an admirable job as Anne. The sets chosen for the film ground the action well and very little seems out of place.

The cinematography is a little rough at times, but I think this was intentional. Much of Banshee Chapter looks to have been filmed by hand, so it feels like a found-footage movie (except for the fact that it obviously isn't). As mentioned, recordings from the actual MKUltra experiments are sprinkled throughout the movie, and there are some actual news recordings for good measure that prop up the film's premise.

Patient 14 (Monique Candelaria) gets her injection.

If you enjoy cerebral horror movies and aren't concerned by a film that takes time to get rolling, you'll probably enjoy Banshee Chapter. Then again, it might bore you to tears. I, for one, enjoyed it and found it to be a fresh offering from a relatively unknown director (Banshee Chapter is the directorial debut of Blair Erickson). For its low budget ($950k) and short filming time (only 28 days), it does what it sets out to do and does it well. I'm interested to see what Erickson has in store for us next.