Small-town life can be deceiving. Behind the innocent, dependable routines often lie a buried undercurrent of restlessness and a desire for change, especially in the young. It’s easy to wish that something would shake things up and relieve the tedium of working dead-end jobs in a dead-end world surrounded by dead-end people. It’s easy, that is, until shadows of the glossy-eyed dark side appear to make it true, and shake your sleepy little world to the core when a creature of the night emerges thirsty for local blood. Welcome to Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Population…dropping. Director Roger Ingraham has proven much with Moonshine, his formidably stylish thriller and impressive debut film. Not only that a 20 year-old and his enthusiastic hometown could create it for less than $9,200 (digerati, unite!), but also that he and his cowriter, Lori Isbell, were capable of exploring and expanding on one of the most exploited of all genres: the vampire film. Their tense script is wonderfully performed by local actors, who add realistic grit to the intimate and accomplished cinematography. Kinetic camerawork jolts and pushes perspectives through light and shadows in an emotive expression of the story’s growing tensions, keeping the audience as involved and disoriented as the horrified characters themselves.
Watch the trailer online!
