The sudden death of a father prompts his estranged son to deal with the aftermath of his departure in the paranormal rural horror drama THE SECRET OF SINCHANEE.
So the legend goes, Deerfield in the State of Massachusetts was an 18th Century English settlement attacked by French and native forces who at the same time liberated a peaceful mixed-race tribe called The Sinchanee (pronounced sin-chah-nee) who had unique immunity to diseases brought to the New World. However, around the same time, the disciples of Atlantow, practitioners of witchcraft and banished for their acts who vowed to eradicate the Sinchanee bloodline.
This strange legacy still exists around Christmas time, 1995, when a young boy called William is found by his grandfather after he walks through miles of woodland, claiming that a man followed him, which baffles the authorities.
Cut to present day Deerfield and industrial tow truck driver William Stark (writer/director Stephen Grayhm) is coming to terms with an urgent request from the lawyer handling the estate of his recently dead father, which has gone into receivership because he had mounting medical issues around schizophrenia that caused a backlog of payments. Unfortunately, William is still struggling as an adult to come to terms with the childhood trauma of witnessing his mother and sister murdered.
Things are not helped with the recent discovery of the body of a woman, Britney O’Shea. What has made Stark a bigger suspect is that he helped retrieve the vehicle from the road. Two detectives (Nate Boyer and Tamara Austin) are holding him understandably to account, but the Sinchanee factor and history of the woods are also giving pause to how to solve the mystery….
Atmospheric and occasionally jumpy paranormal rural offering, echoing the likes of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (and a little more effective than that) combined with a police procedural in the bargain. It’s an interesting affair, coupled with some decent performances, a solid context and some interesting visual effects and shocks. Good location cinematography by Logan Fulton adds to the appeal of a film with solid indie horror potential given time and consideration.
THE SECRET OF SINCHANEE is available now on Digital HD and On Demand.
