Director Kevin Kopacka and co-writer Lili Villányi worked on an episode of the TV show DYLAN a few years ago, which is based on the same character from Cemetery Man. That makes perfect sense, as this film has style to spare.

Dieter (Frederik von Lüttichau) and Margot (Luisa Taraz) have moved to a Gothic castle that would be at home in the films of Corman or Bava*. He has anger issues, she’s in the throes of depression and the estate? Well, it’s slowly making them prisoners. And then they find the whip in the basement, which unlocks old souls and a house that was definitely the site of some whispered illicit behavior.

A story that goes from Eurohorror to a study of relationships to even the nature of male and female inter dynamics within an occult movie that looks like it came from Italy in the 70s, this one has so much going for it. Just look at the font in the poster and at the end of the film. This is a movie that has been polished and honed and worked into the art that it is now. Don’t miss it.

*The director has directly called out Bava’s The Whip and the Body and Jean Rollin’s The Iron Rose as influences. The poster is literally taken from the latter film. It also takes a line from Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

Want to see it for yourself? It’s now playing as part of the Chattanooga Film Fest. Virtual tickets are available at www.chattfilmfest.org/