Editor’s Notes: Berkshire County opens theatrically today, June 5th in TORONTO – Carlton Cinema, OTTAWA – Landmark Kanata, WHITBY – Landmark Cinemas 24, with more cities to follow.
Berkshire County is a Psychological thriller/Horror film directed by Audrey Cummings. It has also won awards at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, Atlanta’s HorrorQuest fest, Phoenix’s FearCon and the Blood In the Snow Canadian Film Festival.
Beautiful cinematography and sound design. The film begins with wide angle shots of Berkshire County, lush, green and most importantly secluded.
Kylie Winters is high schooler who gets lured into participating in a sexual act at a Halloween party. A video of it goes viral and Kylie - bullied, ostracised and facing the wrath of her mother wants to write everybody off from her life but has a prior commitment. She goes to babysit two kids in the remote Berkshire County. After playing hide and seek with the kids and putting them to sleep she answers a knock on the door, which poetically marks the start of another, albeit horrifying, game of hide and seek with potential serial killers. The girl manages to get till her car to escape; however for the sake of the children inside, she goes back to check the intruder’s van. The girl discovers unconscious people chained in the back of the van and realises the full extent of the fate that awaits her if she gets caught. The police turning up later intensify the drama. Will the lady manage to escape and save the kids or will they all become victims of psycho killers let loose? Watch it to know.
Beautiful cinematography and sound design. The film begins with wide angle shots of Berkshire County, lush, green and most importantly secluded. Efforts have definitely been made to create an ambience of terror as soon as the film starts, escalating with perfectly timed sounds. Cinematography looks crisp and neat with clean lighting. The acting is also commendable, though at times it seems a little forced. If the editing and sound design could be finely polished, the movie overall would look more convincing.
Guys frolicking in a pig masks brandishing knives is kind of a brilliant idea, and has given a lot of scope for the filmmaker to explore in terms of characterisation, behaviour and style. The way the film unfolds; there is a certain quirkiness which affects the storytelling in a good way. The phone calls, the sex tape and its ramifications, body language of the masked men. Some of the elements in the film like the white van, the children’s father, young kid with the mask, manage to exude certain eeriness, and carry the film forward beautifully. The film is immersive and gets straight to the point. These psycho killers don’t indulge in idiosyncrasies. They don’t appear to be playing around and mean business, seeming quite intelligent in fact, which adds to the drama. It also appears like a lot of thought has gone into planning these elements and set designs, and they definitely perk up the visuals in a refreshing way. The whole design of the house too adds to the ambience of the film.
Guys frolicking in a pig masks brandishing knives is kind of a brilliant idea, and has given a lot of scope for the filmmaker to explore in terms of characterisation, behaviour and style.
What can be scarier than an ordinary serial killer? A smart serial killer with a physique that can overpower you, who wears a pig mask and makes grunting pig sounds. Kudos to the characters of the masked killers – they really send a chill up your spine. Kudos to the makeup artists too. The film does drag in between sequences. As the movie goes on you might think this is another teenage slasher movie – but this is actually a sophisticated work of art that exceeds all the expectations. Like any other horror/thriller this one too has its share blunders, but they are far fewer in number and the whole movie makes sense overall. This film has a lot of twists and turns and combined with a little thrill here and there, it makes for an entertaining mix that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I couldn’t help but notice that the film did resemble real life serial killer David Parker Ray, who had a trailer where he would rape and torture women. He too wore a uniform, had a woman accomplice and kidnapped his victims first in vans, keeping them chained till they reached their desired location. This film works equally fine for somebody who gets spooked easily and somebody who doesn’t and is simply looking for a tantalising guessing game on a weekend.
I shall say this again. Those pig masks. Damn. Nice touch.
The film is immersive and gets straight to the point. These psycho killers don’t indulge in idiosyncrasies. They don’t appear to be playing around and mean business, seeming quite intelligent in fact, which adds to the drama.
