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Falling Stars is a film about witches written, directed, and edited by Richard Karpala (co-directed by Gabriel Bienczycki). It releases on October 11th. The film begins with these words onscreen: “Every year by the full moon of late October witches from high use the night as cover to descend onto earth’s harvest. Skygazers say they resemble falling stars. In hungry years, the stars fall early.” The plot is a story about three brothers who make an ill-advised journey to see the body of a dead witch.
Witch World and Mythology
“Falling Stars” film streaming on October 11th.
This Fantastic Fest 2023 entry establishes an entire witch world. There are rules for preventing witches from putting a curse on the humans they prey upon during harvest season. An entire mythology exists built up around the falling witches. There are even warnings on radio and television telling the locals to stay indoors. This is interesting as the danger is said to be the wind. There are directions and recipes for performing protective spells.
Meg (Orianna Milne) and Baby Katelyn (Felicia Milne) in “Falling Stars.”
The spell requires apples, rue, sage and something called valerian. I now have a rudimentary idea of what the boys were thinking. The spell doesn’t really work, especially if you desecrate the witches’ sacred circle in any way…for instance, by spilling beer on a witch’s corpse. There is a protective option involving sacrificing a child, but nobody seems keen on that choice —(which could make for good conflict in a sequel to “Falling Stars II.”)
Once we become aware that the title of this 80-minute film could more accurately be “Falling Witches,” the script moves quickly to inform the audience of the various idiosyncrasies of witch world. For instance, although you’re not supposed to be able to kill a witch, one of the group, Rob (Greg Poppa) has already proven that wisdom wrong. He shot and killed a witch and then buried her. The corpse is appropriately gnarly. (Kudos to Noodle Mikael Gustaffson who was responsible for the creepy creature effects.)
THE PLOT
Mike (Shaun Duke Jr.) in “Falling Stars.”
The three brothers of the story, Mike (Shaun Duke Jr.), Sal (Andrew Gabriel) and the youngest, Adam (Rene Leech) want to see the dead witch. Mike decides, without much consideration, that the three brothers should go pick up Rob. Rob lives in a nearby trailer with his wife and 2-year-old daughter Katelyn. They visit the grave of the deceased witch. Bad idea. The male trio’s curiosity certainly was not good news for the family of Rob and Meg (Orianne Milne and baby Katelyn Felicia Milne.)(*Spoiler alert) Because the brothers decide to make a joy ride to the witch’s grave, the family unit is wiped out.
Youngest brother Adam (Rene Leech) in “Falling Stars.”
Things Get Dangerous
The brothers are driving a pick-up truck without enough seating, so some must ride in the back. One passenger disappears from the bed of the truck without so much as a struggle or a scream. We assume that a fallen witch carried him off. The fraternal trio do an excellent job of acting, but they don’t seem particularly close as brothers, nor do they look alike. The youngest of the trio (Adam) comes off a lot more intense and emotional than the other two. We can attribute that to his unique personality or to the fact that he’s the baby of the family.
The Rest Of The World
Radio station KNWK gives the locals, via Barry Foyle, Radio Host, directives to stay indoors. The warnings mainly mention wind. There is no acknowledgement that the populace is really being told to watch out for falling witches. The system is well-established, so these Witch World Warnings must have been going on for years. The locals understand the situation. Think of it a bit like the “red/yellow/orange” terrorist threat warnings from the “W’ years. Certainly a good way to get the residents concerned, then and now. The televised warnings are a bit like those in “The Purge,” alerting people to a long-established tradition.
THE GOOD
Falling Stars” movie
Cinematically, there are a lot of overhead shots. Even the very first shot of a girl walking her dogs is shot from above. (That girl is also the head make-up person). The overhead shots worked really well, as did the acting, the witch corpse, and the creepy, tense mood in this indie film set in Joshua Tree, California. The music (Patrik Herman) was good. Coupled with the excellent acting, this horror outing was a welcome departure from most recent indie horror films, although the ending was a bit abrupt.
The cast is rounded out by a hitchhiker Ouami (Piotr Adamczyk), who just came off as weird, There is also the radio host Barry (J. Aaron Boykin), and his assistant Elana (Samantha Turret) who are under-utilized but good in their roles.
CONCLUSION
I hope this team gets the opportunity to fill in some of the blanks in witch world in another outing because “Falling Stars” is a horror movie that showed real promise. It was filmed on location in Joshua Tree, California and made its North American Premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Draft House (South Lamar).
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