"Under the Raven's Wing" Review -- Written by Anthony Thurber

Under the Raven’s Wing
Year: 2007
Director: Susan Adriensen
Stars: Kimberly Amato, Kamilla Sofie Sadekova and Jessica Palette.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Blue Eyed Productions
Running Time: 88 Mins
Official Website: http://www.undertheravenswing.com/

Under the Raven’s Wing is about a documentary filmmaker, who follows a group of girls who recently murdered a person. These girls want to spread their message by letting the director document their lives and recreate their murderous night. But unknown to the girls, the director has his own agenda. It involves voyeurism and seductive passion. This will lead him down a road, where he’s entangled in the girls’ masterplan. Soon the director’s project begins to spin out of control when the group’s leader Raven wants more control over his film. This will lead to a power struggle over his production, which will make the director fear for his own life.

Going into Under the Raven’s Wing, I thought that was going to be one of those horror films, where it would have a straight forward approach. But from the first minute, when you see the camera shaking, I knew that this was not going to be your average horror film. Instead, this film was a faux documentary like The Last Broadcast, which was released in 1998. The ending in that film left me in shock. The same can be said for this film also.

Under the Raven’s Wing is a very dark-thinking psychological film that gives you the look, at the disturbed mind. Susan Adriensen’s direction was very chilling and realistic. It was shot in a very dark and voyeuristic way, which made the characters very dark and disturbed. The direction was done that way so you feel like that you were watching a Paradise Lost type documentary. Another challenge that she succeeds in doing was keeping the film interesting, when there is no horrific action going on. Adriensen does that by focusing on the performances. The way she directed her actresses’ performances really helps make this material work as a psychological piece. Adriensen also captures the women very well, as it made the characters disturbing. The acting, also make this film very dark. Much of that credit goes the film’s main actresses, Kimberly Amato, Kamilla Sofie Sadekova and Jessica Palette. Their chemistry with each other was very good. Each of the actresses sold their characters as deranged and mentally imbalanced people, which made their characters interesting.

Adriensen’s screenplay is very psychological in the way it explores each of its main characters. She focuses of each of the three young women by going into each of the character’s past in lengthy detail. That’s done so it shows the viewer why each of the characters had lost their mind and became all dark and mentally unstable. Another thing the screenplay showed each of character’s state of mind. That’s how Adriensen’s uses the psychology aspects. She makes the aspects so horrifying that the story didn’t need to show a lot of blood or make it violent (even though there were a couple of scenes toward the end of the film that was violent) to make the film interesting because each of the character’s state of mind made you frightened, to the point that they could explode at any point. Also, Adriensen’s ending to the film was very well executed, as that’s all I’ll say about it

I truly want you horror fans to check this film out, if it’s playing near you. Under the Raven’s Wing is one of the most disturbing and psychological faux documentaries that you will leave you in shock.

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Upcoming Screenings:

September 26th: Dark Carnival Film Festival. Bloomington, Indiana. Venue and Time: TBA
Also on the same day at 12pm, Director Susan Adriensen and Actress Kimberly Amato will take part in the “Women of Horror” Q and A session at the Buskrik- Chumley Theater