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Can you imagine a horror movie’s behind-the-scenes might just be scarier than the movie? If a bold, adventurous director with a unique vision chooses a real haunted house as a location for his paranormal thriller, you must expect the unexpected and buckle up for a seriously wild ride in which your pain tolerance will be tested as you confront your worst nightmares.
By Nilufer Yenidogan Ozmekik
See the NYC premiere of horror film A Savannah Haunting on Sunday September 26 @ 6:00 PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of Bloody Sunday Horror Day at New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
Director/screenwriter William Mark McCullough told us the supernatural phenomena started almost immediately when his father bought the place in 1974. In 2012, he returned to Savannah to stay at the house and was shocked at the frequency and power of the paranormal activity.
Most people who inherit a house haunted by ominous spirits urgently sell the place and run away without thinking twice. But when you are a creative person in the movie business who is interested in working on horror projects, you see it as a challenging opportunity to write a realistically heart pounding and jaw dropping plot.
After his production partner Alexis Nelson convinced him to work on the script, in addition to gathering the best crew to produce an independent movie project, they conducted detailed research of the house with the help of mediums, historians, a voodoo priestess, a paranormal investigation team and a priest to determine the possible cause of the haunting.
As you may see, this movie’s starting process is definitely more eccentric and complex than perhaps a normal production process!
The spiritual team found many disturbing facts about the house, including the existence of a plantation and Native Americans burial grounds. Those were not the only remnants they discovered around the property – they also found an old voodoo doll hidden near the roof of the house. The voodoo priestess informed them that a curse may have been placed on the home years ago by someone angry with one of the owners of the house.
Amazingly, these shocking and blood-freezing discoveries didn’t stop the production team and plans were in place to start shooting in March 2020. Alas, the designated shooting dates were doomed due to the sudden outbreak of Covid-19.
The production team used their down time to shoot a feature length documentary about the struggles they endured while they were trying to film in an actual haunted house. We may see some impactful and quick snippets from the documentary at the ending credits of the movie.
After providing extreme precautions to ensure everyone’s safety, filming finally started. But as you may imagine, shooting a horror movie in the actual haunted house presents unique challenges. Many of cast and crew experienced supernatural phenomena and some of them, quite sensibly, wanted to quit the movie. But on the other hand, this creepy sensation and eerie vibes of the house also helped provide an authenticity to the film that would have been impossible had the team shot in a different location.
The main plot of the movie is about a dysfunctional family of four’s moving to Savannah to start fresh after enduring a heartbreaking tragedy. But their new house, located in the most haunted city in the United States, couldn’t be a more wrong location to start over and recover.
As soon as they set their first steps into the house, mom Rachel (played by Gena Shaw, known for roles at “NCIS”, “Cobra Kai”, “Creepshow”) is assaulted by traumatic paranormal entities that make her think she’s haunted by the ghost of Alice, her recently dead daughter.
A doll which resembles to her daughter starts following her into each room of the house even though she tries to throw it into the trash and even set it on fire. The entire family starts to encounter mysterious visitors including a creepy neighbor who knows lots about the history of the house, a young blonde Southern belle (Tommi Rose) who flirts with both their teenage daughter and dad Eric (played by Dean J. West, known from his roles at “The Hunt”, “The Highwaymen”) while a shadow of Alice haunts the family’s youngest child’s nightmares.
An African-American voodoo priestess (Simbi Kali) pays a visit to Rachel to warn her about dark and sinister forces dwelling beneath the house connected with the slavery plantations and cemetery in the woods.
As the tension slowly escalates, we watch how the family members turn against each other and fall apart. What if it’s too late to save their family? What if the curse of the house is real and spirits are determined to punish them for inhabiting the house?
The story has a quiet fabulous mash-up of a Southern version of “The Conjuring”, “The Haunting of Hill House” and “Annabelle” with a little “Poltergeist” vibes too, all heightened by Savannah’s gracious historical background and beauty.
William Mark McCullough shared an interesting side note: when he finished the script in early 2013, he named the doll/little girl Annabelle, but the very same year “The Conjuring” was released in theaters with the same name for the creepy doll. McCullough had to change the name to Alice. He is fascinated by the fact that many common ideas permeate our culture on a subconscious level and writers draw from these to craft their stories.
In “A Savannah Haunting”, the performances of the actors shape the entire story. Especially main character Rachel’s slow crossing of the thin line between reality and delusion, enduring nightmares, sleep-deprivation and her fragile grieving state were the most effective and emotional parts of the story. Actress Gena Shaw reflected the vulnerable emotional state of the character incredibly realistically.
The story’s slow-burn tension always will keep you hooked and the balanced pacing of the mystery will keep you engaged till the very end, and the final revelations and twists are shocking enough to make you sit at the edge of your seat. It is a satisfying conclusion to a complex, exciting and surprising supernatural movie with so many creepy, irritating, dark and edgy elements.
Overall: The house is the main character of the story, spying on the people as they walk around, witnessing the traumatic events that occur around it just like any living organism. Shooting in a real haunted house with a long and complicated history makes this movie even more interesting and dazzling. A Savannah Haunting is highly recommended to the horror and supernatural thriller lovers who are not afraid of confronting ghosts of the past and who love the eccentric, creepy house theme.
Nilufer Yenidogan Ozmekik
Nilufer Yenidogan Ozmekik is screen writer, executive producer and founder of her new production company “N&Dreamakers Pictures”. After her graduation from Istanbul University/Faculty of International Relations, Nilufer finished her MA at Bilgi University Faculty of Communication & Media Studies, Cinema-Television, she started her writing career as screen writer for several highly rated Turkish TV series. For the past 7 years, she’s been living in the USA and creating projects for both American and Turkish movie and TV industry. In the last three years, her two movies “Fairytale of New York” and “Sleep of Love” have been released at selected US and European theatres. She is great fan of thrillers, fantasy books and Hitchcock, Argento, Fincher, Del Toro, Verbinski movies. She is also thankful to Satan for the inspiration when she’s writing her thrillers.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs September 23-October 2 2021. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 91 fantastic films in all genres from 28 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.
