House of Black Wings
Starring: Leah Myette, Katherine Herrera
Written & Directed By: David Schmidt
Grade: B

House of Black Wings is independent horror writer/director, David Schmidt’s second full feature. It is a character driven ghost story in a haunted house setting. Unlike many current films in the genre, it takes the time to build a story around our main characters. Suspense is gradually built up through dream sequences, illusions, and minor attacks from the creatures and spirits that seem to embody this house. So when the horror becomes unleashed further we actually care about what happens to the characters.

Kate Stone (Myette) has abandoned her music aspirations after getting a record deal with her band. Her dreams ended when her boyfriend and band mate was killed during one of their shows. Since then the group had a falling out and she has been going through a very rough time. Kate’s friend, Robyn, owns an apartment complex and she gives Kate a place to stay for awhile. Kate tries to get adjusted in her new home and she reminisces with Robyn about old times even though it’s hard for her to think about the good things in the past without being reminded of the bad. Both girl’s begin having nightmares that haunts one and which the other actually becomes dependent upon. Robyn is an artist and after creating a demonic themed doll house from these dreams once she is pressured to recreate something like this again. Robyn needs these nightmares to fuel her art, but these may be directly attacking her friend who is already in a pretty dark place. The house seems to have a mind of its own as it gets them to do things and see things that they wouldn’t otherwise. Kate is hearing noises in the walls, seeing ghosts, and even finds the story of one of the ghosts that is haunting her. If they get too close to this house though, it might be too late for them to get out and escape the horror.

Leah Myette as Kate did very well and certainly elevated my concern for both her character and her friend. She wears her pain on the outside, trying to be strong, but not concealing much. Yet Myette handles this in a way where she isn’t just a depressive character, but she has a very likeable down to earth quality to her that still makes her realistic and relatable. Also, she does well both with the dramatic, more upbeat, and traumatic scenes. Katherine Herrera also gave a good performance as Kate’s friend, Robyn. She also gave a very realistic and true to life vibe. Between the two, we were given characters who you could see knowing in real life. They have both clearly been through a lot but bring out a dim lightness in each other. Herrera’s dark obsession that was brought out was one of the most interesting elements as it really speaks to the desperation of the artist, turning to nightmares when feeling so empty.

House of Black Wings uses a wide range of lighting techniques including hitting on nearly every color, each representing a different mood and emotion that the character is going through in that moment. This is shown first in the dream sequences, but then transgresses and is present in the real world too, hinting at the merging that will take place between the two worlds. There is also a good amount of dark night shots, complimented by the shadowing. There isn’t a lot of gore, but there is some blood here. It is more spread out and goes along with the suspense as it is built up. We do get detached body parts, bruised bodies and near deformities, and a swarm of bugs that give us gross out moments particularly when the conflict rises.

I really liked the theme that trying to imitate horrors through art is more demonic than creative or insightful. Not that I think this is always the case, but it is definitely an interesting theme that works with in the context of the film very well. We see this through both of our characters. For Kate it is more depressing that she let the fear of this conquer her the way it did. Robyn on the other hand becomes far too dependent on the demonic visions she has been getting in order to create, thus losing the meaning something personal should have. It’s questionable whether the house is just a representation of the dreams or if the house serves as a sort of voodoo towards Kate. Either way one of these causes things to happen to Kate as soon as they were put in place. There is a writer who lives in the hotel as well, who needs to hear the voices of the ghosts to give him material. He turns in to a murderer himself at the risk of losing this to someone else. The film questions the artist and whether it is art when creativity and imagination are taken away and evil is what is left. The film could have been stronger if it would have gone in to this even further. It was done in a very subtle manner and it was still evident enough to bring this questioning to the table. The film feels more like a thriller, which is fine, but heightening some of the horror elements such as the gore and furthering the psychological elements could have made it much stronger. House of Black Wings is an interesting character driven piece questioning whether art can be genuine when dependent on nightmares alone.