Indie Horror Film MOHAWK Starts Production – Here’s Why You Should Care
[Header image of Ted Geoghegan, courtesy Dark Sky Films]
When horror fans hear about a new movie starting production or ready for release, there are a couple options. Whether or not to pay with your money or your time is influenced by a couple of factors. Usually, you have to take each film on it’s own merits, since much like stocks, past performance results do not always equal future results. A new indie horror movie that just started production may pique your interest though, based on things you’ve seen and/or read from them recently. Who’s starring? Is it a favorite sub-genre (haunted house? slasher? ghosts?)? Is it the only horror movie showing up at the multiplex that week? Another element may be who’s releasing this movie? A major studio like Warner Bros. or a horror-specific company like Blumhouse?
Dark Sky Films (the newest incarnation of VHS stalwart MPI Media Group) and indie film production house Snowfort Pictures announced the start of production on June 8 of a new movie called Mohawk. Why should this be interesting for a horror fan? A few of the items mentioned above make this a movie to keep on the radar. First–the two companies involved have released and/or been involved in bringing some of the most interesting horror films to audiences in the past couple years – Starry Eyes, Late Phases (both released in 2014), The Innkeepers (2011) and The House of the Devil (2009) to name just a few.
Snowfort partnered with Dark Sky on a couple of those (Starry Eyes and We Are Still Here), with Mohawk their third partnership. Other notable Snowfort releases include A Horrible Way to Die (2010) and Big Ass Spider (2013).
So we have a partnership between two production companies with a track record of interesting original horror films.
Good Sign Number One.
Another is the return of Ted Geoghegan as director for his second feature after We Are Still Here. WASH was a memorable return to the haunted house standby, with strong cast (including Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden) confronting restless ghosts in a classic winterbound New England setting.
Second Good Sign.
Thirdly, author Grady Hendrix is Mohawk’s co-screenwriter. 2014’s Horrorstor took another fabled horror trope (building a new home/business/office structure over the site of a burial ground and or abandoned mental hospital/prison), combined it with the modern day dread of Do-It-It-Yourself Scandinavian furniture, and produced one of the funniest scary horror novels of recent memory. Interspersed with the story are mock ads for products that begin with the mundane and end with the existentially awful, matching the darkening mood of the story. Hendrix’s newest book, My Best Friends Exorcism, tells the story interspersed with a (not so) typical high school yearbook.
Good Sign Number Three.
Mohawk‘s story is suggesting a use of distinctly American folklore and horror traditions in a classic rural setting. Combine this with a unique setting and story with talented creative directing and writing, and back with a production team with a track record of sold, interesting horror movies and there may be something worth seeing.
While (as said above), past performance does not indicate future results, Mowhawk is a title to keep an eye on.
