Cassadaga (2011) Review

Cassadaga (2011)

Poiley Wood Entertainment – 108 mins

I only heard of this after a recommendation from a friend , and I really didn’t know what to expect . Now if you were to decide to watch a film purely by the front cover of the DVD then I would not have watched this , as the cover portrays a young woman with hooks screwed into her hands and knees and being operated as a human marionette . It looks like a very low budget gorefest .

Now how wrong would I have been , this is a fantastic little ghost film , with a serial killer , romance and a twist by having a deaf lead character .

Cassadaga starts with Lily a deaf teacher (wonderfully played by Kelen Coleman ) who loses her younger sister to a traffic accident . After this event she leaves town and moves to the quiet town of Cassadaga (the psychic capital of America) to take up a scholarship and part-time art teaching role .

While there she falls for a students father (played by Kevin Alejandro) who is a paramedic and local football hero .After a night out they decide to visit a local psychic and during a séance they try to connect with her dead sister .

Unfortunately for Lily she is connected to the spirit of a dead woman murdered by a serial killer who has a penchant for turning pretty young women into live marionettes (well I suppose every man needs a hobby) .

So from then on Lily has various visions and hauntings that could be leading her towards the killer . Plenty of twists and turns keep the film ticking along and enough bumps and scares to keep ghost film fans very happy .

So there we have it , a great film that weaves three different stories together with real accomplishment and by having a deaf main character it has some really good moments of total silence that add to the tension .

This is by no means perfect , there are plenty of flaws but they are easily forgiven and quickly forgotten .

Well directed by Anthony DiBlasi (of Dread fame) and a great story by Bruce Wood , this really is a little gem of a film that seemed to offer little but actually gave plenty .

Enjoy 7/10 .