Review: ‘1st Summoning’ is a bewitching slow-burn -

Found footage-style of horror-making was first prominently utilized in Ruggero Deodato’s 1980 Italian flesh-consuming tale Cannibal Holocaust but calls back to first-person framework found as early as 1960’s Peeping Tom and later famously with John Carpenter’s 1978 benchmark Halloween. But it was 1999’s erratically-shot thrillscape The Blair Witch Project that kick-started a whole new trend in modern cinema. The woodsy set-piece, written, produced and edited by by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, terrorized a new generation of chill-seekers and has since been reorganized and updated countless times in the last 20 years.

Now, a new haunted fable steps into the picture. 1st Summoning, directed by Raymond Wood (Lonely Love, The Canadoo), with a screenplay from Chris Piner (Farewell, The Bridge), crackles underneath the pressure evoked from and almost required by such a niche genre, while also turning tired tropes into a slick, carefully-produced, contemporary nightmare. Four film students ⏤ a cast boasting Hayley Lovitt (The Gifted, Ant-Man) and such rising talent as Teddy Cole, Brook Todd and Ace Harney ⏤ seek out an abandoned factory warehouse for the truth behind its abrupt foreclosure in the late ’70s. Cole’s sometimes aloof portrayal of obsession is as endearing as it is unnerving, and as his psyche spirals out of control, either through already-inherent mental decay or a cursed fate, his companions, especially his girlfriend Leslie (Lovitt), fight against a descending tunnel-cloud of mayhem.

The Vampire Diaries veteran Jason MacDonald steps into the role of Pastor Youngblood, giving a performance that drains the blood and leaves you feeling cold. His robotic movements and frigid, yet somehow child-like, gaze eerily draws upon the work of Anthony Perkin’s groundbreaking Norman Bates but doesn’t feel too hamfisted. Indeed, MacDonald carries a gliding command on screen, and his disturbing penchant for whistling hymnals is sure to slither under the skin.

Fashioning a slow-burn aesthetic, simmering with several character sub-plots of lust and heartache, the 90-minute cooker lures you into a world that feels familiar, but through its use of angular camera work, cool color palettes (frequently of tempered blues and greens) and glitchy computer effects, 1st Summoning allows you to experience found-footage with a fresh viewpoint. Cinematographer Randall Blizzard plays delightfully with symmetry and lingers on shots to such a heightened degree that you’re just waiting for some blood-thirsty fiend to pop into view. When it doesn’t, there’s an immediately striking sensibility to the story that coaxes you into a false sense of security without taking you (the viewer) for granted. Furthermore, Wood lets scenes play out organically, and many of the jump scares, peppered throughout the second half, give the story a frantic, intoxicating energy. Several key moments in and around the church cemetery and parsonage ⏤ owed largely to fractured lighting, unexpected character twists and the actors’ very palpable, unsettling convictions ⏤ propel our protagonists right into the eye of the storm, dragging the audience kicking and screaming right along with them.

1st Summoning drops in select theatres and on such digital platforms as iTunes this Friday (February 22) via Gravitas Ventures.