The Horror Show
Cassadaga
by Anthony DiBlasi
Cassadaga is a horror film with an intriguing title, a promising plot, but a disappointment after all.
Lily, (Kelen Coleman) a young, deaf art teacher moves to a small place called Cassadaga after receiving an honorary award from the Cassadaga University. Having recently experienced the sudden death of her younger sister, this opportunity seems to be the best thing to leave her troubled memories behind. When she gets to Cassadaga, which is a spiritualist community - whatever that means - she settles into a guesthouse run by Claire (Louise Fletcher), a sweet old lady and her weird, perverted grandson, Thomas.
Her real problems begin when the ghost of a girl, who previously lived in the guesthouse, starts to haunt her. The only chance Lily has to get rid of this ghost is by following the signs and completing the ghost's unfinished work.
This unfinished work has to do with a very troubled man, who suffered as a child since his mother couldn't accept that he'd rather play with dolls than trucks. Now that this man is all grown up, his obsession with marionette dolls has become a twisted and bloodstained hobby.
The plot sounds promising and it had the potential of being a horror film fun to watch. However, this is not the case. The first 50 minutes of Cassadaga, are like an introduction that never led to the main part. Scenes with Lily's difficulties coping with her new life without her sister and starting all over at this new, weird place are endlessly boring. Things get even more dull when her little love story with Mike (Kevin Alejandro), the cute caring father of one of Lily's students, comes along.
It is only in the last thirty minutes when the film starts getting some action. Lily confronts the crazy marionette-guy and tries not only to escape from becoming a marionette doll herself, but also to set the ghost that has been haunting her free by taking revenge.
At the end of the day - spoiler alert - the happy ending, is not really worth 110 minutes of your time. You would be left unsatisfied, tired, bored and with a dubious feeling that Cassadaga missed the point of showing the gruesome murders of a deranged man.
Maria Kriva, HMS
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