Frank’s girlfriend, Sarah (Elly Hiraani Clapin), is a scientist, who also naturally doesn’t believe in the existence of God or an afterlife. She is on the precipice of a landmark scientific achievement. She has brought a guinea pig back from the dead. Frank wants to be her “human guinea pig” and volunteer to be killed and resurrected so he can see what happens when we die (Flatliners, anyone?). He, of course, wants to conduct the entire experiment on the vlog, and of course, something goes awry with the experiment.
‘…undeniably entertaining in a trash-tv sort of way.”
Frank starts seeing frightening hallucinations of people who aren’t actually there. It’s at this point that he enlists the help of a local medium he had previously mocked publicly on his show, Meredith (Mikaela Franco). She has access to the astral plane and informs Frank he must fight against the demons or else they might destroy the world through a computer virus on the dark web. She also informs him that he has powers to heal the sick, read people’s minds, move objects with his mind, and more. There are also demons who follow him around, including a very creepy looking girl with a neon red upside-down cross. There are definitely more antics packed into the hour and a half set before us that you’ll have to wait and discover through watching Tabernacle 101.
This film is not going into any hall of fame or anything, and it certainly has to grow on you, but Tabernacle 101 is undeniably entertaining in a trash-tv sort of way. I could find myself absolutely binge-watching this in an episodic format, which might be a good thing to do with the material. There are hints of there being a sequel in the film. I would absolutely watch it. Colm O’Murchu wrote, directed, produced, and edited this entire film and even makes a cameo appearance as a tourist. It’s an impressive effort for a low-budget SciFi project, and I implore anyone who enjoys cable tv shows about supernatural stuff to check this out because it definitely fits right in with your viewing preferences.
"…several noises throughout the night which Frank attributes to koalas or kangaroos"
