Screenwriter/director Chad Bolling’s My First Year Off Campus, co-written by Jon Beauchemin, is one of those horror films where the ending is more clever, funny, and entertaining than the whole film. We follow two college students, Sirene (Rachel Harvey) and Cayla (Kelsey Keely), who move into an old home off campus. The homeowner is Owen Block (Reid Schmidt), who has rented out the house ever since his parents passed away. He is an oddball who gives off Norman Bates vibes and happens to be a Hitchcock fan. Owen has strict rules for the house. No one is to enter the garage, and no men are allowed to spend the night.
The girls learn about strange happenings at their rental home from one of the locals named Bob (Lew Temple). He tells them that young women keep renting the house and mysteriously dying. One night, Sirene notices an old woman wandering outside the house and tending the garden. Owen brushes it off and says senior citizens sometimes harmlessly enter the yard. Everything gets weird when it turns out Owen’s parents, Loretta (Rosemary Yung) and Hank (Carl Paul Ezold Jr.), are alive, brought back to life through demonic possession. Sirene and Cayla must escape the house, or else they will be used for a bizarre ritual.
“…two college students, Sirene and Cayla…learn about strange happenings at their rental home…”
Bolling and co-writer Jon Beauchemin have included all the right creative aspects to make a compelling horror film: a college setting, dead parents, bizarre witchcraft, and odd antagonists. Unfortunately, it does not come together smoothly. The editing feels a bit slow, which hurts the pacing. The positives come through the clever aesthetic choice of a VHS filter that transports the viewer into this off-kilter film. Reid Schmidt is fantastic as Owen, who is a well-written antagonist. He has multiple layers and goes through an arc that ties to themes of growing up and letting go of the past. Navid Hejazi’s score is a fun mix of suspenseful synth and 1920s standards that complement the mood.
My First Year Off Campus will appeal to horror fans through its strange humor and unusual reworking of tropes. It is worth a look just for curiosity!
"…will appeal to horror fans through its strange humor and unusual reworking of tropes."
