Local lore informs SIGNAL, LANE
~~~~~
After our last couple of articles, heavy duty in scope and preoccupied with both LOVE and loss, we’re aiming to lighten our load here at C-U Blogfidential for the next few posts. So, naturally, we’ll start by telling you about a pair of horror-thrillers with Illinois DNA that are lying in wait to scare the yell out of you! Neither are local productions, per se, but both trade on urban legends that you may or may not have heard before and involve movie creatives from the downstate region. While they have been available on streaming and VOD for a while now after brief theatrical exposure, they’re just now appearing on physical media if the mood strikes to add them to your personal collections. Let’s shine a light in the darkness…
Available nationwide on DVD as of today, Tuesday January 11, is the slasher flick LANTERN’S LANE from Vertical Entertainment and the Los Angeles-based production company, Tidal Wave Entertainment. Produced by Lydia Cedrone and Justin LaReau, co-presidents of Tidal Wave, and written and directed by LaReau, LANE is loosely based on folklore told by the residents of Watseka where the latter was raised. While the stories wax about the haunting of a forlorn road called “Lantern Lane” by a farmer’s wife who went looking for her husband and never came back alive, the film concerns a college graduate played by Brooke Butler who goes to the bars with several former high school classmates (Ashley Doris, Sydney Carvill, Andy Cohen) before heading out on the dusty drag of the title. From there, an ill-advised stop at an abandoned house with homicide in its past becomes much worse when a hooded ghoul shows up to terrorize the trespassers. Set in Illinois and filmed in northern California during the summer of 2020 with a spare production crew and safety measures taken – LaReau discusses its making in this well-done feature by Stephanie Markham of the Kankakee Daily Journal – LANE opened in select theaters and debuted on digital platforms on Friday, November 5, via Vertical. LaReau’s other feature work includes NO ALTERNATIVE and A DEMON WITHIN, indies that he made after paying his dues with entry-level jobs in Hollywood and foregoing a career in education and coaching athletics here in the Midwest.
~~~~~
~~~~~
Making headway into the consumer marketplace a month earlier than LANTERN’S LANE, the intense conspiracy drama BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION was released to Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, December 7, by Dark Sky Films, the genre imprint of MPI Media Group that is based in the Chicago suburb of Orland Park. Harry Shum Jr. (CRAZY RICH ASIANS) stars as James, a graduate student who is logging archival videos from the Eighties and discovers pirate signal breaks in the recordings, some that went over the air and others previously unseen. He becomes obsessed with discovering the origins and meaning of the ghostly automaton on his screen, especially since he thinks it can help solve the disappearance of his wife.
Critically acclaimed during its festival and commercial runs, SIGNAL also stars Kelley Mack, Justin Welborn, and Chris Sullivan and was directed by Jacob Gentry (SYNCHRONICITY) from a screenplay by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall. As this was filmed on location in the Windy City, it stands to reason that we’d find familiar names behind the scenes of the Queensbury Pictures production; they include co-producer Brett Hays (GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR), line producer Iman Sharabash (CONSUMED), production designer Sarah Sharp (SLICE), makeup department head Ashleigh Coartney (AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS), first assistant director Anthony E. Cabral (CHRISTMAS AGAIN), and actor Sullivan, who was memorable as the children’s party entertainer in THE POOKA from Shatterglass Studios of Champaign. We of a certain age and Chicagoland lineage can also attest to the fact that, yes, “Max Headroom” did interrupt local broadcasts in 1987 and surely was an inspiration for SIGNAL.
We’ll conclude by taking a left turn that leaves the interpreted shivers behind. A fan who participated in a virtual screening this past Saturday, January 8, of WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT?, the upcoming documentary from Gorman Bechard and Fred Uhter about the unsung legend and musician Jay Bennett, told your humble editor on Facebook that Bechard has confirmed a DVD release in April for the project. Whether it is a self-release or national distribution remains to be seen. Bennett passed away in 2009.
~ Jason Pankoke
~~~~~
