Gorehounds Unite!

UNDER THE RAVENS WING Plot Synopsis:

A cocky unseen filmmaker documents three young women about a murder they committed. “Raven,” the ringleader, believes in serene dimensions beyond this world and has the power to send you there. After all, she doesn’t call it “murder.” Her and her two minions, “Angel” and “Jessie,” call it “Transcendence” … and it’s the greatest gift to give. These girls want to spread their philosophy and this “Director” is just the man to do it. His desire to make a movie keeps him involved as he documents and recreates the girls’ “glorious” murder night. The complicated lives of these three women unfold freely before the camera. However, without their knowledge, the Director has his own agenda and the documentary project starts to become about seduction and voyeurism. The girl’s stories appall yet captivate the Director as he finds himself becoming entangled in their grand plan. But Raven tries to control the production by keeping everyone in her psychological grip. Ultimately, the production goes terribly wrong and a power struggle ensues … with the Director fearing for his life.

UNDER THE RAVENS WING Review:

his film came to my attention shortly after I did the review for "The Blood Shed" (if you havent read it be sure to check it out after you read this review) and was contacted by Susan Adriensen who played sno cakes in that film and directed this one. She asked if I'd like to review it and I immediatly said yes!. I didnt really know what to expect from this film as I didnt research it before watching it.....and I'm glad I didnt as it turned out to be quite a suprise for me!

 This isnt as much of a horror film as it's a dark and deeply disturbing character study with some real horrific overtones.Under The Raven's Wing was filmed in a Documentary/ Blair Witch (for lack of a better comparison) type of style that serves the story well. The story revolves around a young man, who's known only as "The Director" (Cory DeLuca....an offscreen only character) and is making a documentary about three beautiful women Raven (Kimberly Amato), Angel (Kamilla Sofie Sadekova), and Jessie (Jessica Palette). Raven is the "goth-like" leader of the group, Angel's the rebelious one, and Jessies the ditzy follower just looking for acceptance.

The first thing I realized is that with such a narrative driven plot the acting would have to be near perfect as any bad performance could make the film as a whole fail. The roles had to be played perfectly......The women definitely looked the part but could they act?

 The answer to that is a resounding YES! In fact I'll go out on a limb here and say this is the best acting I've seen in a low budget film......EVER. They nailed their roles so well it draws you into the story that much more. I have to say that they play well off of each other and they all seemed to be their characters which is the biggest compliment I could ever give to an actor. And the fact that they all were so good is just an amazing accomplishment.

 This brings me to the next point that could make or break the film......and that's the writting. This is another area the film shines! The dialouge of the characters is believable and natural (the hardest part to write of any film), The characters backstorys are well fleshed out and very believable, and the plot as a whole is well written without being too preachy or overbearing. You care for these characters more so than in most films I've seen.....I don't know if all of this comes because the filmmaker is female and gives a different point of view in her films but if thats the case we need more women directing films.