THE INHABITANTS (2015)

Studio:       Gravitas Ventures
Director:    Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Writer:       Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Producer:  Bridget Keefe, Glenn Cooper
Stars:     Elise Couture Stone, Michael Reed, Judith Chaffee, Rebecca Whitehurst, Erica Derrickson, Vasilios Asimakos, Edmund Donovan, Danny Bryck, Victoria Nugent, India Pearl

Review Score:

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Summary:

A couple moves into a colonial New England home haunted by a legendary witch blamed for a plague of missing children.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Dan and Jessica Coffey purchase The March Carriage Bed & Breakfast Inn from Gretchen Stanton and her Aunt Rose, who suffers from dementia. Shortly after moving in, Dan and Jessica are woken when Rose suddenly appears in a rocking chair in their bedroom. Rose pines for her husband Norman and cryptically advises the couple to “take care of the children.” Dan calls Gretchen, who apologizes for the disturbance and returns Rose to her assisted living facility.

Jessica acquires a book on local history from the library and learns that the house was built in 1665 by carriage-maker Arthur March. Arthur was married to Lydia March, a midwife to early colonists who was hanged for witchcraft on October 16, 1669 after a plague infected area children.

Dan travels to Chicago for work, leaving Jessica alone. Jessica walks in the woods with her dog Wiley and meets a trio of odd locals. Jessica returns home and continues reading the history book. She learns that several children became lost in the woods shortly after Lydia March’s death, as if the woman was calling to them from beyond the grave.

Strange activity continues occurring around the house. Jessica finds a scrapbook in the cellar as well as a hidden passageway leading to a crawlspace within the walls where she is attacked by a supernatural figure.

Dan returns home to find Jessica behaving strangely. Dan also discovers a camera and videotape system with surreptitious surveillance footage of previous bed and breakfast guests, as well as a live feed of the current bedrooms.

While Dan is out, the three locals Jessica encountered in the woods earlier sneak into the house. Jessica kills all of them while possessed by Lydia March.

Dan returns home. While reviewing footage from the surveillance monitors, Dan finds evidence of a ghost child seemingly haunting a guest bedroom. Dan suggests spending time outside of the house, but Jessica refuses.

Dan visits Rose Stanton at her nursing home. Rose cryptically reveals that the house’s east bedroom was intended to be a nursery, Lydia March was unable to have children of her own, the house’s children need to be fed, and Lydia must be burned because hanging is not enough. Jessica seduces Dan into sex when he returns home while Lydia’s ghost later kills Rose.

Dan reviews more surveillance footage and finds a bundle of antique midwife tools under the bed in the east room. With Jessica’s strange behavior escalating, Dan visits the witch museum in town and learns of the witch’s teat, a finger growth from which children suck for essential nourishment while under a witch’s spell. Dan returns home and sees Jessica beckoning to the apparition of a child on the monitor. He also finds the bodies of the three murdered townies and begins confronting feral ghost children before tumbling down a staircase.

Dan regains consciousness to find himself restrained to a birthing chair and attacked by his possessed wife. Dan manages to escape, but Jessica pursues and stabs him to death in the crawlspace.

Jessica welcomes a family with two young children as her first bed and breakfast guests. Jessica directs them to the east bedroom as she caressess her pregnant belly.

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Review:

Receiving an email from filmmaker Shawn Rasmussen about his and his brother Michael’s sophomore directorial effort “The Inhabitants” is not so strange.  What is odd is that the message opened with a declaration of appreciation for my reviews.  Didn’t I say something more than a little unflattering about use of the phrase “from the writers of John Carpenter’s The Ward” while covering The Rasmussen Brothers’ previous movie “Dark Feed?”

Looking back at that review, my negativity was harsher than remembered, ending on a summation of “Dark Feed” (review here) being “one of the more forgettable horror movies in recent memory.”  Are they sure they had the right person in mind when considering critics who should have a look at their follow-up film?

Discounting possibilities of being unaware of that review or mistakenly pinging me with a cut-and-paste greeting, that meant one of two things.  Either the siblings intended to be out in front of my opinion on the next go-around, or they accepted criticism with professionalism, perhaps even considered unfavorable points with an eye towards improvement.  No matter the case, my respect for the Rasmussens grew exponentially, more so if the latter is true.

Now the dilemma presented itself.  Putting it mildly, “The Ward” is not regarded as a high point in John Carpenter’s career.  I cared even less for “Dark Feed.”  What are the odds a third time might charm?  Do I chance committing to coverage of a movie I might have to pan, after its co-director has been complimentary no less?

The trailer intrigued enough that a dice roll was warranted.  And in the 2.5 years since reviewing “Dark Feed,” I’d like to think I’ve developed enough tact to no longer make blunt statements such as, “their script is no work of Shakespeare.”  In all likelihood, The Rasmussen Brothers matured at their trade, too.

One minute into “The Inhabitants” and I was silently groaning, “uh oh.”  A couple, possibly portrayed by a pair without previous onscreen experience, settles in for the night at a centuries-old New England inn.  With a quizzical grimace, the woman tells the man of a creaking noise in the bathroom.  “It’s an old house,” he says.  The woman’s previously pursed lips twist into an “oh yeah, duh” smile as she replies, “you’re right” and joins him under the covers.  I’d been advised “The Inhabitants” was a homegrown project filmed with friends and financed on a shoestring, but was the entire movie going to be as roughly written and amateurly acted as this prelude?

The good news answer to that question is no.  “The Inhabitants” goes on to develop into a quietly unsettling chiller making the most of its microbudget mood.  The not as positive elaboration is that the very long fuse on its very slow burn doesn’t lead to the most explosive barrel of TNT tension or terror.

Dan and Jessica, a different duo than featured in the opening, are a charming enough young couple.  Anxious for both a new home and a new business, the pair purchases The March Carriage bed and breakfast from a creepy old woman’s caretaking niece and moves in to a mystery.  Fun fact: the film was shot at the historic Noyes-Parris House in Massachusetts, once home to Reverend Samuel Parris, whose daughter and niece made the awful accusations that kickstarted the Salem Witch Trials.

A trip to the local library reveals that The March Carriage’s original owner was married to midwife Lydia March, hanged for witchcraft in 1669 when a plague afflicted local children.  A trip to a crawlspace hidden within the walls then results in Jessica becoming plagued by Lydia’s supernatural spirit.  Legend tells tales of children disappearing after Lydia’s death, and it seems she intends to continue her cursed legacy from beyond the grave using Jessica as her vessel.

Actor Michael Reed gives Dan an affable softness that keeps his Everyman husband likable and relatable.  At issue with actress Elise Couture Stone’s companion performance is that when her paranormal possession requires Jessica to start behaving strangely, she REALLY starts behaving strangely.  Jessica goes so far into a state of frosty catatonia that even though Dan realizes something is off, any reasonably-minded husband would be ready to buckle straightjacket restraints without hesitation.

Jessica’s single-jump transformation notwithstanding, “less is more” is otherwise the movie’s motto.  What makes “The Inhabitants” admirable is that its ambition restrains itself within achievable bounds, focusing on atmospheric appeal through setting and nuance instead of flashy frights or spectacle it doesn’t possess the budget to make believable.

At the same time, scaled-down suspense requires a tolerant viewer, and “The Inhabitants” doesn’t make it easy to invest that patience.  Grisly ghosts and ample action redeem the climax, but the climb to reach that peak takes breathy pauses in uneventful lulls.  The gradual build goes on so long that the trick bag runs out of interesting ways to stretch scares.  More than once the fallback tactic is simply passing a shadow in the foreground or background with an accompanying audio cue, a setup reused often enough that eeriness effectively erodes.

There remains enough substance in the film’s feel for unwearied ghost story fans to get behind it as a mood piece.  Those in search of a gorier punch to a similar premise might wish to choose “We Are Still Here” (review here) instead.

At the very least, “The Inhabitants” is not the kind of skeletal indie attempting to cheat audiences with cut corners before running carelessly to the next project, like unnamed others churning cheap cash-grabs on a bi-weekly basis.  No matter the film’s subjective entertainment value, sincere commitment is evident.  The Rasmussen Brothers might not be there yet in realizing a full-fledged feature capable of really knocking socks, but “The Inhabitants” is a step in a better direction.

Review Score:  60

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